EBL working to bring multiple functions in one card: Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury

Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) is working to include various functions in a single card to make the daily financial tasks of consumers easier and introduce virtual cards against plastic ones, Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury, head of digital financial services of the bank, told The Business Post’s Mehedi Hasan in an interview

He also talked about the credit card business and the challenges it faced amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Business Post : EBL offers a range of credit, debit, and prepaid cards to meet the daily financial needs of consumers. What is the condition of its card business amid the ongoing pandemic?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: EBL has almost three lakh debit cards, 1.9 lakh credit cards, and around 50,000 supplementary credit cards in the market. It is offering four products – Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and Diners Club. Outstanding loans in EBL credit cards stand at Tk 650 crore.

The pandemic impacted the card business in the country both positively and negatively. The positive impact is that many people are shopping online from home, which is boosting local card transactions and creating new card consumers.

We are processing 75 to 80 per cent of local card transactions through the EBL payment gateway. E-commerce transactions through EBL cards increased a lot during the pandemic.

The negative effect is that consumers could not travel abroad due to coronavirus restrictions. As a result, they did not make any transactions in foreign lands and that business was almost zero. This impacted all lenders having a credit card business.

But transactions are growing now as the pandemic situation is improving.

TBP: What special features and offers do EBL credit cards have?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: EBL is providing quality services in credit cards as consumers are very aware of services than offers. We have a good reputation in the market that clients are using our cards without any hassle.

This is true that features and offers are very important for card users. We have various offers in our cards. EBL credit card holders making 18 transactions in a year get annual fee waivers. We are the pioneer in providing this facility.

We also offer various discounts during occasions. We have a lounge at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, which is very popular among card users. EBL provides insurance facilities for credit card users, and we are the only bank that is offering this. We are also providing equated monthly instalment (EMI) facilities in several products.

We are emphasising providing quality services than offers, which is the most important factor to attract customers. EBL issues cards for all segments of users.

TBP: What are EBL’s future plans for the card business?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: Plastic card users are switching to virtual ones because everything in banking can be done just through an app nowadays. EBL Skybanking is such an app.

In the future, we will introduce virtual cards against plastic ones. We are working to incorporate multiple functions in one card. All kinds of features will be available in a single card to make consumers’ daily financial tasks easier.

TBP: As various countries imposed travel restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic, what were the impacts of that on card business?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: Most of the countries restricted international travels amid the pandemic, which negatively impacted the card business as I explained before.

Travel restrictions are now being lifted as a number of countries have fully recovered from the pandemic. International travel is increasing now but is yet to return to the pre-pandemic levels.

TBP: E-commerce transactions through cards fell in July after huge irregularities in some companies were revealed. Will this impact the card business?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: E-commerce transactions through cards have of course been negatively impacted due to some rogue e-commerce platforms. Everyone must be aware and should play their part to recover from the fallout.

The e-commerce platforms that are being criticised have a wrong business policy. But the government has taken an initiative to introduce a policy which will be helpful for this sector.

As per the policy, e-commerce companies will get payments after delivering products to customers, which is a good initiative.

TBP: There is a common allegation that lenders are imposing high interest on credit cards and fees on plastic cards. What is the real situation?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: Credit card interest rates are very lower in our country than neighbouring nations like India. Credit card business is very costlier than other loan products as we have to maintain a call centre for 24 hours.

Also, we have to maintain the card management system like the core banking system. Credit cards are very high-risk products. There are huge costs involved in the credit card business.

As a result, the interest rate is not so high, and it is not wise to compare other loan products with credit cards. Besides, clients do not have to pay interest if they pay the bills on time.

TBP: Most people still prefer cash transactions over digital payments. What are the main challenges of building a cashless society?

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury: Cash transactions will reduce when the number of digital payment channels will increase, such as WhatsApp banking, e-wallet, mobile financial services (MFS), and cards.

The country’s MFS providers like bKash, Nagad, and Rocket have already created a revolution in the journey towards becoming a cashless society. The use of cash will reduce drastically if small businessmen like street hawkers and grocery store owners can be brought under the digital payment channels.

The central bank has already taken initiatives to introduce Bangla QR to bring these traders under the digital payment system.