KBank's debit card addresses spending habits of young adults

Kasikornbank responded to the needs of customers aged 18-35 with its universal debit card.

"We believe the universal debit card will reinforce our retail lifestyle banking concept and drive spending," Pakorn Partanapat, executive vice president of KBank, said yesterday.

Customers in this age group, sometimes referred to as "Generation Y", are the top debit-card spenders. They have various lifestyles. Cardholder behaviour is becoming more functional and emotional, so debit-card features should be improved, he said.

The character of a debit card and its features must be attractive to make cardholders willing to pay the annual fee.

The bank this year plans to issue 4 million debit cards, up from 3.4 million new cards last year. The bank plans to boost fee income from this business by more than 25 per cent.

Of the 40 million debit cards in the Thai market, 8 million are KBank cards. Of the Bt57 billion in overall spending on debit cards last year, Bt28 billion was on KBank cards.

E-commerce and application stores from international outlets account for 90 percent of spending and air tickets and hotels for 10 per cent. KBank's promotions for debit cards are aimed at these activities.

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