Press Release 2013
UOB celebrates ten years of the Lady's Card with new Solitaire Card for financially successful women
UOB cards market share to increase to 10 per cent in three years
KUALA LUMPUR, 19 April 2013 - To cater to the growing number of financially successful women in Malaysia, United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd (UOB Malaysia) today announced the introduction of the UOB Lady's Solitaire Card, offering luxury travel and lifestyle privileges for women who want to reward themselves for their hard work.
The launch of the card marks the tenth anniversary of UOB's pioneering range of credit cards exclusively for women in Malaysia. UOB Malaysia was the first card issuer to introduce the Lady's Classic and Lady's Platinum Cards to the market in 2003.
The new UOB Lady's Solitaire Card is the most exclusive among the three UOB Lady's Cards1 and is available by invitation only to women earning RM150,000 and above per annum.
Ms Sue Wong, Executive Director and Head of Cards and Payment Products of UOB Malaysia, said the new UOB Lady's Solitaire Card meets the lifestyle needs of this group of financially successful Malaysian women.
"More women these days have pockets deep enough to pamper themselves in style as they become more successful in their chosen profession and have greater spending power. Compared with five years ago, UOB Lady's cardholders in Malaysia now spend twice as much on travel and 40 per cent more on shopping. The new UOB Lady's Solitaire Card offers these affluent women additional rewards such as travel privileges at top airlines and hotels, exclusive deals at fine dining establishments, as well as shopping and beauty benefits at luxury retailers," she said.
UOB Lady's Solitaire cardmembers who travel to Singapore have access to the exclusive China Club and will also enjoy dining privileges at the Marina Bay Sands. The World MasterCard Concierge Service will also be able to assist all UOB Lady's Solitaire cardmembers with their lifestyle requests - from international restaurant reservations, concert bookings and personalised travel arrangements, to sending a gift to a loved one living overseas.
Rising discretionary spending power to drive growth of Lady's Card base
Ms Wong said that with women being able to spend more, UOB Malaysia aims to double its Lady's Card base within the next three years. The Bank is also targeting to increase its overall share of the cards market to 10 per cent.
According to industry estimates2, the discretionary spending power of Malaysian women will hit US$51 billion (RM155 billion) in 2015, with US$1.48 billion (RM4.5 billion) being spent on travel.
"With a decade of experience in the women's card business, we know what women want. Travel in particular has emerged as a key area on which women are willing to spend more. As such, we will continue to focus on offering attractive deals with key travel, shopping and dining partners so that our cardmembers can enjoy these benefits while using their UOB cards in Malaysia as well as when they travel overseas," she said.
.............................................................................................................................................................................
1 Lady's Card base includes UOB Lady’s Solitaire Card, UOB Lady’s Platinum Card and UOB Lady’s Classic Card.
2 Source: Dr Yuwa Hedrick Wong, Global Economic Advisor, MasterCard Worldwide.