KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7(Bernama) -- RHB Banking Group expects to increase the number of its cardholders by 30 per cent by the first quarter next year, driven by its latest product, the Dual Credit Card.

Group Retail Banking Acting Head Nazri Othman said the bank currently has over 500,000 credit cardholders.

"We anticipate over 10,000 new card issuances per month on average and 60 per cent of this is expected to be driven by the Dual Credit Card," he told a press conference after the launch of the product here today.

Furthermore, he said the bank hopes to maintain the growth of RHB credit cards spending at an average of 15 per cent year-on-year – higher than the average market growth rate of eight per cent.

He said the RHB Cash Back credit cardholders can enjoy up to 10 per cent cash back on expenditure for daily essentials such as petrol, dining, utilities and grocery and other retail spend, giving them the chance to earn more than RM600 in cash back value annually.

Meanwhile, the RHB Rewards Credit Card allows customers to earn reward points of up to 10 times the amount spent on purchasing movie tickets, online shopping, overseas spending, health and insurance as well as other retail spending.

"Based on recent industry statistics, approximately 50 per cent of market spend distribution spans categories that RHB Cash Back card is promoting while another 30 per cent of market spend distribution are from the categories that RHB Rewards card is promoting.

"By consolidating the features of the two cards, we will be able to capture approximately 80 per cent of the credit card spending of the average customer," he said.

Asked on the property crowdfunding platform announced in the 2019 Budget, he said it was a step in the right direction, but noted that it was still too early to see the impact on the market, especially given the lack of information on the initiative.

"On the equity part, who is going to own the property - is it the bank, the consortium or the individuals? And if property price goes down, who will bear the losses and be responsible for the gap in terms of financing?

"It is still early days and we have yet to see the details," he added.

-- BERNAMA