Banks Put Their Cards On The Table
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday November 2, 2001
Westpac unveiled a new credit card reward program yesterday, offering Qantas frequent-flyer points to replace its defunct Ansett-related scheme, while ANZ sought to attract customers with a new ``smart"credit card.
Westpac's new rewards scheme will allow about 650,000 customers with reward-based credit cards to redeem Qantas frequent flyer points and retail products.
However, hundreds of millions accrued by card holders before Ansett went into the hands of administrators are still frozen and possibly lost.
The card strengthens Qantas's hold on the local airline market, with the firm now possessing partnerships with all the major reward credit cards in Australia.
Unlike Westpac's previous scheme, which automatically channelled points to the Ansett Global Rewards program, customers will be able to elect how they allocate points, which will be guaranteed by the bank.
Qantas will be the first airline to be part of Westpac's scheme, although the bank said it recognised the importance of offering customers the ability to fly with a range of airlines.
It is understood other airlines may be added to the program in future.
Customers will get one reward point for every dollar spent on the card. However, Westpac will offer 1.5 points for every dollar spent under the program between Monday and December 31, 2001.
The bank said it would reveal details of the program to its customers later this month. Points customers earned on their Global Rewards Westpac Visa cards after September 14 will be redeemable through the new program.
Westpac offered a 2 per cent discount on its reward-based cards when the scheme went into limbo after the demise of Ansett; this will continue until the new scheme is operational.
Diners Club, which also had a reward program linked to Ansett, launched a new scheme featuring Qantas frequent flyer points last week.
Meanwhile, ANZ Bank will become the first of the major bank to issue ``smart" credit cards after revealing yesterday it would immediately distribute the new cards to a large section of its customer base and invest in new merchant terminals to handle the technology.
ANZ is the second major institution to launch a chip card after American Express's Blue launch in July, replacing the traditional magnetic stripe card with one also embedded with a chip that can store much more information.
In a $50 million leap of faith in the new technology, ANZ claims it will be able to offer its customers better security when making online transactions and more flexible customer reward programs with a range of retailers.
The ANZ smart card issue will not include the bank's most popular card, the Qantas Telstra Visa, which has enjoyed a surge of support following the collapse of Ansett and its rewards scheme.
ANZ leads the way Page 22
© 2001 Sydney Morning Herald
