Business

Saturday November 15, 2008

MasterCard upbeat on debit card


It issues more debit than credit cards

Kuala Lumpur: Debit cards are fast gaining acceptance in Malaysia, said MasterCard vice president and senior country manager (Malaysia and Brunei) Jim Cheah.

He said the issuance of MasterCard debit cards in the first six months of this year surpassed that for credit cards.

“The usage of debit cards has been steadily increasing over the past few months as it is cashless, efficient and convenient,” he said at a briefing yesterday.

Debit card transaction volume had surpassed credit card transactions in markets like Australia, the US, Taiwan and parts of Europe, Cheah said.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, MasterCard worldwide recorded a US$6.8 trillion worth of debit card transactions and gross dollar volume of US$554bil.

Cheah said a debit card was more convenient and secure than carrying cash, offered better financial control to the cardholder and was accepted worldwide.

“A MasterCard debit card is accepted anywhere where a credit card is accepted. MasterCard has more than 28 million global acceptance locations,” he said, adding that there were more than 100,000 merchants locally that accepted both MasterCard debit and credit cards.

Currently, six banks are issuing MasterCard debit cards locally. Cheah said the card could be used at automated teller machines for cash and transfers.

To a question, Cheah said consumers were becoming more cautious in their spending. However, he said consumer spending for the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions charted double-digit growth for the first half of this year.

On delinquencies, he said: “We have a pretty healthy credit card industry in Malaysia.

“Malaysians are not heavy borrowers. I do not think our non-performing loan ratio is spiking.”

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