Alliance Bank Aims To Double Credit Card Customer Base Via Digitisation

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 (Bernama) -- Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd aims to double its credit card customer base over the next few months after introducing its dynamic card number, an enhanced feature on its Visa Virtual Credit Card (VCC) in April.

Through a partnership with Red Hat, the world's leading provider of enterprise open-source software solutions, the bank has been able to operate the VCC digitally.

Alliance Bank's head of cards and loans Edwin Lee said the bank has recognised the potential to double its card base after the bank has received thousands of VCC applications every month.

“I believe if the momentum were to continue, we could potentially double our card base in the next few months.

“Before the launch of VCC, we had about 120,000 credit card users, but by the end of May, it had increased by up to 25 per cent to 152,000 credit card users,” he said during a question and answer session with the media today.

Lee added that the bank's partnership with Red Hat is one of the factors pushing its credit card client base to increase as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic by digitally assisting the bank in recognising dangerous situations by exploiting the technology.

“Just before the pandemic, we digitised our personal loans with the help of Red Hat, where customers can actually apply for their personal loans digitally, and the next product which we thought was the first in the market, was the VCC.

“And with this digitisation, we can defray the risk of cybercrime, fraud, identity theft and the hassle of cancelling the card, and because the virtual credit card comes with a dynamic number, it is a very important feature in the VCC, and the market needs it.

On the digital transformation of banks or financial services industries (FSIs), Red Hat Malaysia's country manager Tammy Tan said an open source gives financial institutions the tools to innovate in a world of rapid change.

“We strive to help organisations like Alliance Bank to create a culture that is more agile, collaborative and effective.

“The use and integration of open source components for banking will enable financial institutions to innovate and to develop at their own speed and our work with Alliance Bank is a great example of this,” she added.

-- BERNAMA