CIMB aims to increase debit card market share

ENCOURAGING: Bank expects to have 10pc by 2013 from 5.7pc now

CIMB Bank Bhd, the commercial banking arm of CIMB Group expects to increase its debit card market share to 10 per cent from the current 5.7 per cent by next year.

Its head of retail banking Peter England said the bank has issued one million debit cards since it was introduced in November last year.

The bank is the largest issuer of MasterCard debit cards in Malaysia.

"We have quite a long way to go in lifting the utilisation of debit cards although its usage has been encouraging since it was launched last year," England told reporters at a prize presentation ceremony for winners of the "CIMB Loves New York" Debit Card contest.

He said the campaign is the bank's way to encourage the use of debit cards rather than cash and credit cards.

England said the usage of debit cards in Malaysia is relatively small compared with countries such as Australia which has a total debit card usage of 60 per cent.

With the tightening of credit policies and the initiatives to promote a "cashless" society by the government, England said CIMB Bank is confident that the shift to debit card usage will push the growth of this business in the country.

"What we are saying is rather than using cash or possibly credit cards, we would like our consumers to think of using their debit cards instead. I think that provides more responsible spending," he said.