KTC launches new healthcare cards
KrungThai Card has launched the KTC-Ultimate Healthcare range of cards, following a prediction that credit-card use for healthcare services will increase next year to equal spending via plastic on regular products.
Currently, the top three places KTC cards are used are petrol stations, superstores and hospitals, senior executive vice-president Thawatchai Thitisakdiskul said yesterday. About 560,000 KTC cardholders use their card to pay healthcare bills, amounting to combined spending of around Bt3 billion a year. "Next year, we estimate that spending volume for healthcare services will be equal to spending for daily consumption. Healthcare expenses per transaction are quite large," said Thawatchai. For its Ultimate Healthcare range, KTC, which in terms of number of cards is the country's largest issuer of credit cards, yesterday joined forces with Bangkok Dusit Medical Services, the Kingdom's largest medical network, to introduce six new cards. Holders of the new cards will receive privileges, including discounts of 5-50 per cent, if they use them to pay for treatment at any of the 17 Bangkok Dusit Medical Services hospitals, including Bangkok Hospital, Samitivej Hospital and BNH Hospital. Thawatchai said that through this collaboration the company expected the number of its premium cardholders, currently 40,000, to increase by 50,000 per year. Spending at Bangkok Dusit Medical Services hospitals, meanwhile, is expected to grow by 30 per cent per annum. Thawatchai also said that if the Bank of Thailand allowed credit-card providers to increase interest rates to 20 per cent from the current 18 per cent, it would have little effect on cardholders. "If the credit-card interest rate was increased by two per cent, the financial burden to cardholders would rise by only Bt1 per day," he said, adding that the rate increase would also make cardholders be more cautious in their spending habits. KTC's non-performing loans account for just over one per cent of its total outstanding credit, lower than the market average of two to three per cent. The company has 1.4 million cards active, a figure it expects will rise to 1.5 million cards by the end of the year. For next year, the company has targeted to expand its customer base by 250,000 cards.
Somruedi Banchongduang The Nation
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