Maybank Islamic Expects Mastercard Ikhwan Card-i To Contribute Up To 15,000 New Card This Year

KUALA LUMPUR, June (Bernama) — Maybank Islamic Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), expects the newly-launched MasterCard, Ikhwan Card-i, to contribute up to 15,000 new credit card issuances this year.

Maybank Group Head of Islamic banking/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Maybank Islamic, Muzaffar Hisham, said the Islamic bank’s maiden collaboration with MasterCard would offer weekly rewards of an all-expenses-paid umrah trip.

“By just spending RM200 in a single receipt, cardholders will be eligible to win umrah packages,” he told reporters after the launch of the card here Tuesday.

Also present were Maybank Group President/CEO, Datuk Abdul Farid Alias, MasterCard Worldwide South-East Asia, President Matthew Driver, and Lembaga Tabung Haji Group Managing Director/CEO, Tan Sri Ismee Ismail.

Muzaffar said for non-Muslim cardholders, the prize would be replaced with a travel package worth the same value as the umrah package.

He said among other features of the card were contributions to charity for every single spending by cardholders and five per cent weekend cash back on petrol and groceries.

The credit card would strengthen the bank’s position as the leading credit card issuer in the Islamic segment with over 21 per cent market share, he said.

Muzaffar said to date, Maybank Islamic has about 109,000 Islamic credit cardholders.

On the outlook of the Islamic credit card in Malaysia, Muzaffar said the bank was optimistic of the segment’s growth as it positively correlated with the overall growth of the economy.

“We are quite confident this year as the momentum of growth for Malaysian economy should be sustainable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Matthew said, MasterCard was enthusiastic about the growth of Islamic finance and looked to further expand its reach in this thriving sector to meet the needs of Islamic banking in South-East Asia and beyond.

“The development of comprehensive syariah-compliant product reiterates MasterCard’s commitment to advance financial inclusion and encourage the migration to electronic payments, a key pillar which will spur growth in the payments industry,” he said.

At the ceremony, Maybank Islamic also contributed 28,000 hand luggages and prayer mats to this year’s Haj pilgrims worth RM1.5 million under the Sahabat Korporat Tabung Haji 2014 programme.

Maybank Islamic currently has over four million customers with products and services available at more than 400 Maybank and Maybank Islamic branches and various distribution channels nationwide.