Co-Brand credit card to offer customer benefits
Co-Brand credit card to offer customer benefits
A new type of credit card ‘Co-Brand' has been introduced to the market and will offer a variety of exclusive privileges and benefits to its users.
The Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public (BCEL) in cooperation with UnionPay International and Lao Airlines on Tuesday officially launched the Co-Brand credit card in Vientiane at a function attended by the Deputy Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR, Ms Vatthana Dalaloy, and the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport, Ms Vilaykham Phosalath, along with other government officials, valued customers and representatives from private and government banks.
The Co-Brand card will be a combination of the services provided by its three predecessors, the UnionPay Credit Classic, UnionPay Gold and UnionPay Platinum cards which it will replace. It will offer the most attractive benefits of any Lao credit card at the moment, according to the BCEL Acting General Managing Director, Mr Phoukhong Chanthachack.
The new credit card will be able to offer user-benefits in relation to travel and services, linking closely with the Lao Airlines Frequent Flyer programme, free access to the airport lounge when flying with the airline and special facilities and services at many stores around the world which are part of the UnionPay programme, he said.
The Co-Brand credit card can be used in more than 150 countries, 26 million stores and 1.8 million ATMs around the world, it will attract discounts from merchants under the Partnership Programmes of BCEL with each transaction being able to be monitored and managed via mobile applications and the BCEL One 24/7 hotline.
Exclusively for the platinum version of the card, apart from the benefits above it also offers free 90 day travel insurance per year (multiple trips within one year of not more than 90 days in total), free Dragon Pass special lounge privileges two times per year and more convenient travel arrangements that come from quality tourism information, advice on hotel booking and healthcare information, said Mr Phounkhong.
This new card becomes part of deepening the cooperation between Laos and China in general and helps to increase the competitiveness of two state-owned enterprises in particular as well as helping increase capacity for assimilation into the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in late 2015.
The three entities BCEL, Lao Airlines and UnionPay International decided to join together in issuing this new card in the hope their cooperation would contribute to socio-economic development in Laos and bring mutual benefits to all parties, he commented.
Since UnionPay I nternational began working with BCEL in July 2011, more than 550,000 UnionPay cards have been issued, making it the only major bank card in the country to account for more than 70 percent of the national share of the issued bank card market, said UnionPay International CEO, Mr Cai Jianbo.
Lao Airlines are confident that the Co-Brand card will help its holders to know more about Lao Airlines, said the President of Lao Airlines, Dr Somphone Doungdala.
Co-Brand credit card holders will not only be able to buy tickets online but will also receive benefits from the Lao Airlines' frequent flyer programme, such as lounge access in domestic and international airports and earning points and miles to get awards from the airline, he said.
This project is part of Lao Airlines preparations for integration into the AEC, he added.
