KBank links with major Chinese credit-card firm

Banthoon Lamsam, chairman of KBank, said yesterday that the growth of the Thai economy relied heavily on the tourism industry, which is booming thanks to China. This year Chinese arrivals are expected to exceed 5 million, while Thais travelling to China and its two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau are expected to number 600,000.
The leisure activities of both peoples provide opportunities for the credit card business, he said.
UPI’s cardholder circulation is the world’s biggest at 3.83 billion, half of all cards issued outside mainland China. Merchants accepting UnionPay cards total 8.6 million worldwide. Over 1.5 million ATMs globally also accept its cards.
In Thailand, UPI has already signed up more than 100,000 merchants and UnionPay cash withdrawals are now available on 44,000 automated teller machines here.
The target customer groups for KBank UnionPay are Thais doing business, studying or vacationing in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Chinese businesspeople operating in Thailand.
The bank aims to issue the largest number of UnionPay credit cards in Thailand or at least 100,000 cards by next year.
With the KBank UnionPay card, UPI can extend its credit-card business in Thailand along with KBank, which has seen steady growth that has sent total K-Credit Card spending to the top of the Thai financial industry in the past year, Banthoon said.
Chatchai Payuhanaveechai, an executive vice president of KBank, said the bank issued 650,000 new credit cards annually. This partnership will help support issuance of new credit cards and card spending. The target for next year is 650,000-700,000 new cards issued.
This year, spending via KBank credit cards might come in at Bt250 billion, short of the target of Bt260 billion because of the economic slowdown. Overall credit-card spending is on track to grow by 13.5 per cent this year, slower than the forecast of 14 per cent, he said.