Amex offers credit cards to millennials
AMERICAN Express has begun providing credit cards for the middle-income segment, which it defines as those with monthly incomes of Bt30,000, to grasp the opportunity of serving the growing number of millennial-generation consumers in Thailand.
Amex has been in Thailand for 36 years, catering to upper-income customers who earn Bt45,000 a month or more.
Until now, Amex provided two kinds of credit cards in Thailand. The THAI American Express Platinum card is designed for people with monthly incomes of Bt45,000 and up, while the American Express Charge Card is for people who have annual incomes of at least Bt2 million.
Marlin Brown, vice president and country manager for Thailand, said yesterday that establishing a standard credit card for middle-income people was in compliance with the company’s regional policy, as the group had acknowledged that Asia is an important contributor to global economic growth.
Millennials now are a powerful group of customers in Asia, and not just in Thailand, he added.
The millennial segment – people 20-35 years old – commands 32 per cent of the Thai population, and this segment is looking for greater financial freedom, Amex believes.
Brown said that even though Amex is focusing more on millennials, this did not mean they would become the major proportion of its cardholders in Thailand right away.
“Thailand is a potential growth market for us and we want to expand [our] customer base in the millennial segment. If we can tap this segment, it means we can engage them once they become [enter the] upper-income segment,” he said.
To acquire millennials as customers, Amex highlights pricing as one strategy, offering an interest rate of 12.99 per cent per annum – which it says is the lowest in Thailand – and a point system providing 1 per cent cash back.
According to the Bank of Thailand, credit-card providers can charge interest as high as 20 per cent per annum.
Brown said Thailand was a dynamic economy and the competition in the credit-card industry was quite high, and many people had more than one card. However, the fact that the activity rate of existing Amex cardholders is 85 per cent indicates that it can grow in the millennial segment, he said.
In Thailand, Amex issues its own credit cards, unlike in other developing countries where it has partnered with commercial banks to issue its cards.
Amex has many channels in Thailand through which it can acquire customers, including its website and its Facebook page.
