MasterCard Inducts Asia/Pacific Co-Brand Programs into Winners’ Circle

 Three co-brand card programs from Asia/Pacific have been inducted into MasterCard's Winners’ Circle. This inaugural award recognizes partners for excellence in co-branding.

Coles Myer Source MasterCard and Virgin Money MasterCard from Australia, and the Vanke Real Estate Co-Brand from China were inducted into the MasterCard Asia/Pacific Winners’ Circle at the 2004 Asia/Pacific Co-brand Partners’ Forum in Shanghai.

“The entries this year illustrated the high level of strategic thinking and originality of our partners’ co-brand programs. Each of our participants has shown true leadership in bringing innovative co-brand solutions to the payments industry. MasterCard congratulates these winners for exemplifying excellence,” said Ajay Bhalla, senior vice president and general manager, South East Asia and Head, Center of Excellence for Co-Branding, Asia/Pacific, MasterCard.

The Coles Myer Source MasterCard, co-branded with Australia’s largest retailer, Coles Myer, has become one of the fastest growing credit cards in Australia, with over 470,000 cards issued since its launch in October 2003. This card leads the way in Australia with no annual fee and by offering an impressive 62 interest-free days. The Coles Myer Source MasterCard Gold Card is also the only ‘no fee’ gold card in Australia.

The second winner, the innovative Virgin Money MasterCard, has received tremendous praise from cardholders and industry players alike. With features such as its attractive design, no annual fee, low interest rate, and instant rewards program, this card has been highly popular with cardholders and potential customers and managing to achieve an outstanding Australian credit card growth rate by attracting over 500,000 new applicants within the first nine months.

The Vanke Real Estate Co-Brand card is another success story, being launched in more than six cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, Liaoning and Hubei. With 30,000 cards issued to date since September 2003, this card has been one of China’s most successful programs. Besides doubling up as both a credit card and a key to cardholders’ homes, this card also entitles cardholders to value-added services from a wide variety of companies such as Kholer, Dulux and Siemens.

See other recent news from: MasterCard