Malaya
Banking and Finance
June 18, 2012

Among Filipino credit cardholders, it is common practice to own different cards to be able to take advantage of different cash rebate schemes. 
Ironically, this "financial management strategy" also results in the cardholder having to pay annual and monthly card fees multiple times.  
Not to mention these rebate cards are limited to a particular spending category and/or specific merchant.
With this in mind, EastWest recently unveiled its newest credit card product—the EastWest EveryDay MasterCard.
The EastWest EveryDay MasterCard is  the only cash rebate credit card in the market that offers cardholders up to 5 percent cash rebates for their purchases on all three essential categories—supermarket, gas and drugstore. 
A cardholder can earn as much as 5 percent cash rebate for spending a minimum accumulated amount of P10,000 on non-essential items each month. 
Or cardholders can earn either 3 percent or 0.5 percent on essential purchases if they spend on non-essential purchases of P5,000 to below P10,000, or below P5,000, respectively.
Moreover, the EastWest EveryDay MasterCard does not limit the cardholder to a particular merchant. 
Cardholders can earn rebates for their purchases at any supermarket, any gas station and any drugstore, making it the ultimate all-in-one cash rebate card.
"The credit card market is a competitive segment but at the end of the day, we understand that it's all about the card that gives you great value for your purchases," EastWest Executive Vice President and Head of Consumer Lending Cluster Jackie S. Fernandez said. 
"We want to target those cardholders who are value-seekers and are frequent users of their credit cards on their everyday purchases, be it daily essentials, special spends, merchant installments, auto-charge or balance transfer. The EastWest EveryDay MasterCard, as the name implies, is designed to be part of the cardholders' everyday activity, converting their daily spending into smart spending with the credit card's cash rebate feature."
During the event, EastWest Bank President and Chief Executive Officer Antonio C. Moncupa noted that the new card's features and perks are in line with the bank's commitment to its clients as encapsulated by it's corporate tagline, Your Dream Our Focus. 
Moncupa also said that with the new card, they hope to increase their issued cards to 1 million by 2014.
"We are striving hard," Moncupa said.
He earlier said Eastwest will aim for bigger volume of loans to boost up the low spread sheet.
"Given pressure on bank spreads as a result of favorable macro environment, healthy balance sheets of banks, we expect another robust growth in lending," he said.
Moncupa explained that there is a pressure on profitability this year but not to an extent that loans or lending will be bad.
He also noted that the banking industry has never looked so good in a long time.
"Leverage at around 10x is prudent and loan to deposit ratio at around 65% is far from bubble levels.  And earnings are good," he said.
"Consumer business is half of our entire business. Credit card is about a little more than half of our consumer business. It is 1/4 of our lending business," Moncupa said.
"Eventually as we grow, we will have more corporate loans kasi bulto bulto yun kaya mas mabilis palakihin," Moncupa said.
The launch of the EastWest EveryDay MasterCard comes on the heel of EastWest Bank's successful initial public offering (IPO) listing in May which saw the bank strengthen its niche as one of the fastest growing banks in the country today. 
The listing also strengthened the bank's intention of acquiring a universal banking license. 
The IPO was a first for a local bank in eight years.
EastWest Bank opened its doors to the public on August 1, 1994. 
The Bank is a subsidiary of the Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), the publicly listed holding company of the Filinvest Group that evolved from a consumer business founded by Andrew L. Gotianun, Sr. in 1955. 
FDC is one of the country's premier conglomerates, with business interests in real estate, banking, sugar, hospitality and tourism, and power-generation. 
Through the years, EastWest Bank has successfully capitalized on the financial strength and synergy from the business organizations under the Filinvest Group.