New MasterCard Aims for Rich
saw tis article & was surprised tat Signature is MC's premium offering.
the ads look good but when i picked up an appln from UOB recently, i wasn't impressed at all by wat it has to offer. the biggest draw seems to b the free air-ticket tat comes wif the card.
and the min income is lower den ladies platinum. tink it makes more sense to retain the platinum den to get tis card.
Wall Street Journal , September 08, 2006
MasterCard Inc., seeking to tap a larger share of the affluent market, is launching a line of credit cards aimed at households with annual incomes of more than $250,000.
The first card in the series, announced yesterday, is aimed at customers of Saks Inc.'s upscale retailer Saks Fifth Avenue and will be issued by Britain's HSBC Holdings PLC. The card, called Saks Fifth Avenue World Elite MasterCard, will carry no annual fee and sport a hefty interest rate of 22.65%.
It is the latest in a flood of "co-branded" cards that are linked to specific rewards programs from a particular retailer or airline. Saks already has a proprietary card that can be used only in its stores. The new card will be tied to Saks's existing rewards program and also offer other perks, such as a free companion airline ticket with the purchase of a full-fare business-class international ticket.
During the past several years, MasterCard and Visa USA Inc. have taken aim at American Express Co.'s traditional hold on the affluent market by offering their own high-end programs to banks that issue plastic.
MasterCard's upper-end card is called "World," while Visa uses the name "Signature." The cards typically offer premium perks and have been aimed at households with an annual income of at least $125,000.
The cards also have generated controversy because merchants typically pay a higher fee to the bank issuers when consumers use these cards compared with traditional cards.
With the new offering, MasterCard is further parsing the affluent market segment by creating another level of cards within it. At the same time, MasterCard is seeking to distinguish itself from Visa, which is widely perceived as having a bigger hold on these consumers.
Nilson Report, which tracks the card industry, estimates that there are 4.9 million MasterCard World cards in circulation, compared with 7.9 million Visa Signature cards.
"This platform will help us with this very high-end segment," said Walt Macnee, president of the Americas for MasterCard, based in Purchase, N.Y.
Visa, meanwhile, says that the Signature card makes up 3.9% of its consumer credit-card accounts. The card accounts for 20% of Visa's sales volume; cardholders spend an average $28,000 a year on each card.
MasterCard shares rose $1.24, or 2%, to $60.12, on the New York Stock Exchange.
the ads look good but when i picked up an appln from UOB recently, i wasn't impressed at all by wat it has to offer. the biggest draw seems to b the free air-ticket tat comes wif the card.
and the min income is lower den ladies platinum. tink it makes more sense to retain the platinum den to get tis card.
Wall Street Journal , September 08, 2006
MasterCard Inc., seeking to tap a larger share of the affluent market, is launching a line of credit cards aimed at households with annual incomes of more than $250,000.
The first card in the series, announced yesterday, is aimed at customers of Saks Inc.'s upscale retailer Saks Fifth Avenue and will be issued by Britain's HSBC Holdings PLC. The card, called Saks Fifth Avenue World Elite MasterCard, will carry no annual fee and sport a hefty interest rate of 22.65%.
It is the latest in a flood of "co-branded" cards that are linked to specific rewards programs from a particular retailer or airline. Saks already has a proprietary card that can be used only in its stores. The new card will be tied to Saks's existing rewards program and also offer other perks, such as a free companion airline ticket with the purchase of a full-fare business-class international ticket.
During the past several years, MasterCard and Visa USA Inc. have taken aim at American Express Co.'s traditional hold on the affluent market by offering their own high-end programs to banks that issue plastic.
MasterCard's upper-end card is called "World," while Visa uses the name "Signature." The cards typically offer premium perks and have been aimed at households with an annual income of at least $125,000.
The cards also have generated controversy because merchants typically pay a higher fee to the bank issuers when consumers use these cards compared with traditional cards.
With the new offering, MasterCard is further parsing the affluent market segment by creating another level of cards within it. At the same time, MasterCard is seeking to distinguish itself from Visa, which is widely perceived as having a bigger hold on these consumers.
Nilson Report, which tracks the card industry, estimates that there are 4.9 million MasterCard World cards in circulation, compared with 7.9 million Visa Signature cards.
"This platform will help us with this very high-end segment," said Walt Macnee, president of the Americas for MasterCard, based in Purchase, N.Y.
Visa, meanwhile, says that the Signature card makes up 3.9% of its consumer credit-card accounts. The card accounts for 20% of Visa's sales volume; cardholders spend an average $28,000 a year on each card.
MasterCard shares rose $1.24, or 2%, to $60.12, on the New York Stock Exchange.
another posting by Livia @ 9/13/2006 01:29:00 AM
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