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'Aggressive' launch for Barclaycard
Barclaycard will 'aggressively' target 10,000 new customers a month following the launch of its first credit cards in the UAE.
The bank, which today announced the launch of its Classic, Gold and Platinum cards, has an ambitious plan to become the number one card issuer in the UAE within the next three years.
Zeeshan Saleem, Barclays head of cards business in the UAE, said: "Our strategic objective is to be number one in three years and within two months we want to be number one in terms of new acquisitions per month.
"To achieve this goal we will be targeting 10,000 customers per month starting in August," he said.
"We have a large sales force and we have multiple channels to get to the customers. We will be in the malls and [Dubai] Internet City, we will be in cinemas and there will be advertisements on the radio. We have entered the market quite aggressively," Saleem went on to say.
The new credit card products offer customers the opportunity to choose a package of benefits, rewards and pricing options depending on their needs.
They include a Prestige package, for which customers pay an annual fee of AED550, pay 2.19% interest a month and receive a number of benefits including the Barclays Butler Service and discounts at a number of spas and health clubs.
Under the Priority package customers pay a yearly fee of AED300, pay 2.39% interest and receive benefits such as travel insurance and free cinema tickets.
Preferred package members pay no annual fee and pay 2.49% and receive fewer benefits.
Saleem said the bank had conducted extensive customer research, which revealed many consumers are dissatisfied with the service provided by their credit card provider.
He said Barclaycard planned to capitalise on this by encouraging customers to switch accounts.
"We have done the research and from what we have seen the satisfaction level was not very high. There were concerns about service and pricing.
"Over 75% of customers in the research said they'd be likely to sign up for our credit cards and 65% showed the likelihood to recommend it to others. We expect huge movement of customers from other banks to ours."
The launch of the credit cards follows on from last month's announcement that Barclays would relaunch retail banking services across the UAE.
These will include current and savings accounts and will be followed by the setting up of two branches, three service centers and an ATM network by the end of the year.
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Posted by Emma Kably on 11 June 2007 at 08:33 UAE time
When detailing the Prestige package you have mentioned "They include a Prestige package, for which customers pay an annual fee of AED550 a month". Is the fee a monthly of Dhs 550 or an annual fee?