ANZ launches new card to boost credit

ANZ CEO Tareq Muhmood: Card use is on the rise

ANZ last week launched the ANZ Travel Visa Platinum Credit Card (Travel Card). The card targets professionals and is intended to further strengthen the bank’s credit card market position. The card also offers exclusive lifestyle benefits, enabling frequent flyers to earn miles with their every day spending. Vietnam is the fourth market in Asia, after Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia to offer the Travel Card to local customers.

ANZ Vietnam head of retail banking Duong Duc Hung said the launch of the ANZ Travel Card in Vietnam was a further step in executing the bank’s focused retail strategy and reaffirmed its position as the most connected bank across Asia Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

According to ANZ, the Travel Visa Platinum credit card is targeted at professionals, managers, executives and businesspeople with current incomes from 20 million VND per month (nearly $1,000) and a strong penchant for travelling.

With the launch of the Travel Visa Platinum Credit Card, the bank aims to deliver unique privileges to its clients.

While many other local banks are focusing on retail banking, including card business, as they face challenges in the corporate segment because of non-performing loans and slow production growth of enterprises, ANZ wants to expand market share and enhance their competitive advantages.

“The ANZ Travel Card proposition has been recognised as one of the most popular cards in all the markets it is available in and we are optimistic that the ANZ Vietnam Travel Card will be the travel companion of choice for both our staff and customers here,” said Hung.

He added as disposable incomes in Vietnam continued to rise, consumers were likely to increase spending on discretionary purchases and travel would be part of their lifestyle.

ANZ Travel Visa Platinum Credit Card offers generous benefits to users

Consumer market

ANZ Vietnam and Roy Morgan launched a Vietnam consumer confidence index two months ago, providing valuable insights into Vietnamese consumer spending and sentiment. The index shows that Vietnamese optimism is extremely high compared with other countries in the region.

With a population of nearly 90 million – more than Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom combined – Vietnam is the world’s 14th most populous economy. One factor turning Vietnam into a major consumer market is the relatively young age of its population, with one third aged below 20 and nearly two-thirds aged below 35. Additionally, they are relatively tech-savvy and have a strong disposition to travel and experience the world.

Finally, Vietnamese income growth has typically outstripped the rest of Asia, resulting in Vietnam having one of the fastest growing middle classes not just in Asia but in the world, according to a survey by ANZ Vietnam. The bank believes that the formation of a consuming middle-class is occurring at a faster pace in Vietnam than in any other emerging Asian economy, including China, India and Indonesia. 

“These dynamics will see  Vietnam rapidly transition to enjoying greater consumer spending as the more significant and stable driver of overall economic growth,” said Tareq Muhmood, CEO of ANZ Vietnam. 

He said the combination of high levels of growth and firm increases in average monthly earnings had seen Vietnam become home to the fastest-growing consuming class in the region.

Between 2010 and 2020, the ‘consumer class’ population is likely to have more than tripled from 10 million to 32 million, according to a report from ANZ. And over the coming decades, over the remainder of this decade, Vietnam will add over two million people to the consumer class each year. 

Given these factors, Muhmood said, Vietnam was an important market in ANZ’s super regional strategy. “It is a key engine of growth, not just in Asia but increasingly in the global economy. Naturally, Vietnam is a key focus area for our retail banking business in Asia Pacific,” he added.

Key revenue contributor

ANZ Vietnam in recent years has been one of the leading players in Vietnam’s banking card market. The bank has nine transaction outlets across Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and over 80 ANZ ATMs. Its customers can also withdraw money for free at Visa’s network of 13,000 ATMs across the country.

Hung said card spending through ANZ has grown by more than 100 per cent over the last two years. The bank is also currently the fourth largest Visa issuer in Vietnam.

In the affluent and emerging affluent segment, the bank is making significant inroads, becoming the third highest Visa Platinum issuer in Vietnam in just two years.

“Use of cards, both credit and debit cards have seen tremendous growth over the past two years as consumers become more aware and savvy about the benefits of these products,” Hung said.

“We have seen consumers evolve from using their cards on mostly discretionary spending to increasingly using it on an everyday basis - when they travel for business or pleasure, dine and shop at points of sale, overseas and increasingly online,” he added.

Hung believes the card business has huge potential to grow in Vietnam with only 5-7 per cent of the population having a credit card.

At present, cards are one of the top three revenue contributors to the bank’s retail business, but it expects the ANZ Travel Visa Card will boost card revenue in future as travel in particular has always accounted for a significant part of card spending. Over the past two years, travel on card spending accounted for 25-30 per cent of total spending at ANZ.

“Vietnam has seen strong growth in electronic payments over recent years as more Vietnamese recognise the benefits of convenience, speed and security. The launch of ANZ Travel Visa Platinum credit card is a new benchmark for this market catering for the increasingly sophisticated needs of Vietnamese consumers and will further add to this growth,” said Sean Preston, country manager of Visa in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.