Under the patronage and in the presence of Mr. Nicolas Sehnaoui- Minister of Telecommunications, and in the presence of Mr. Claude Bassil -General Manager of touch Lebanon-, Mr. Saad Azhari -Chairman and General Manager of BLOM BANK-, and Mr. Tony Gougassian -General Manager VISA Levant, touch launched its exclusive, feature-packed credit card which is offered as a Visa Gold or Visa Platinum through one of the most prominent banks in Lebanon; BLOM BANK. The press conference was held at the Four Seasons Hotel today to introduce the card that combines the benefits of holding a Visa credit card with having free talking minutes, or free SMS, or even free Megabytes for internet usage on the touch mobile line.
This new credit card is the first single branded card in the Middle East involving a telecommunications company. It presents cardholders with the convenience of a revolving line of credit along with unmatched rewards that are customizable on a monthly basis.
The card offers its holders a reward program that provides their choice of free minutes, or SMS or internet with every purchase of USD 100. The touch credit card also proposes a welcome gift of 120 free minutes, 120 SMS or 120 Megabytes for Platinum cards and 60 free minutes, SMS or Megabytes for Gold cards.
touch credit card holders receive special promotions such as 0% interest on selected handsets and enjoy free roaming when abroad. The more exclusive Platinum cardholders may choose between free medical insurance including medical expenses, or a free Priority Pass card that allows them to access more than 600 VIP airport lounges around the world.
Additionally, this credit card presents to its cardholders valuable services provided by Visa such as the Extended Warranty and the Purchase Protection services, granting clients prolonged repair periods for items that were purchased with the card, as well as protection against any damage, loss or theft of these items.
With this credit card, Lebanese consumers will be able to enjoy the services of three leading institutions: touch, BLOM BANK and Visa International.
In his welcome speech, Mr. Azhari highlighted that, "the bank is constantly following the development of technology trends and how they affect consumer tastes and behavior. Accordingly, we are always looking to innovate not only in Lebanon but also at the Middle East level. We were the first bank in the region last year to offer the BLOM eCash Service and we are today innovating once again with our partners touch and Visa."
In this regard, Mr. Bassil commented, "the launch of touch credit card today illustrates the close partnership between mobile telecommunications and retail banking, and adds a new dimension in driving innovative solutions to continually improve the mobile customer experience, and adjusts to the current and future consumer needs. According to statistics, more than 200 million users have made transactions through Mobile Banking by the end of 2012."
On a same note, Mr. Gougassian expressed, "the importance of the growing reliance on electronic cards and the role Visa is playing in this area via their products. The new touch credit card enforces once again the partnership between Visa and BLOM Bank in hopes that this collaboration would generate further initiatives in the future that would offer value to the consumer and the economy."
Sehnaoui
Minister Sehnaoui added: "We are proud of the Lebanese banking sector, which is considered as one of the most active and energetic economic sectors. The same goes for the telecommunications sector, which is in constant competition and continuously grows to serve the Lebanese citizen's areas of interest. We are also proud of the launch of the touch credit card, a first of its kind in the Middle East, but at the same time, we urge the banking sector to deploy further efforts so that Lebanon becomes a pioneer as well in the field of mobile Payment, noting that this matter is not only vested to the Ministry of Telecommunications, but it also requires the cooperation and the joint efforts of several parties, namely the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Ministry of Economy".
Mr. Sehnaoui ended his speech with acknowledgements to each of touch and BLOM BANK for this new achievement.
