EASTWEST Banking Corp., the financial unit of Filinvest Development Corp., is now among the biggest credit card issuers in the industry after the recent migration of the retail banking business of Standard Chartered Bank Philippines to the bank in the latter part of November.
EastWest successfully completed the transfer of Standard Chartered Bank’s retail business, which included retail deposits, wealth management, personal loans and credit cards.
EastWest executive vice president and consumer lending cluster head Jacqueline Fernandez said Monday the completion of the retail transfer solidified EastWest’s position as the fifth-largest credit card issuer in the industry today with over a million cards-in-force.
She said that the transfer ushered in two new premium credit card variants, the EastWest Visa Platinum Credit Card and the EastWest Priority Banking Visa Infinite Credit Card. The launch of the aforementioned products is in line with EastWest’s plan to grow the affluent segment of its credit card business.
“Expanding our credit card portfolio underscores our goal of strengthening EastWest’s consumer lending business,” Fernandez said.
All EastWest credit cards issued are now EMV chip-enabled in compliance with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ mandate to adopt chip technology for better card security. EastWest was able to comply ahead of BSP’s deadline to implement the initiative. EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa.
EastWest president and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. earlier said the transfer would benefit all its new customers.
“This retail transfer is a key step in our growth strategy, putting EastWest in a better position to deliver long-term value for our customers, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve,” Moncupa said.
EastWest has been building scale and continue to explore growth opportunities, especially in the retail and consumer segments. In an earlier statement, EastWest said it was expecting the agreement to be value accretive as it further enhanced the bank’s retail and consumer banking scale.
