Last week, Citibank India launched its Citibank World Money Visa Platinum Card. This prepaid foreign exchange travel card is the latest in many such card launches recently. Earlier,Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched its PNB World Travel Card while Central Bank of India launched its CentYatra card, both on the Mastercard platform.
Forex cards are an alternative to carrying currency notes or travellers’ cheques. But they’re not a new product and various banks have been offering them. More banks are entering the fray now and with new features too.
“Forex cards have always been popular with companies. Now leisure travellers too are taking to them,” says Parag Mehta, executive director of Mumbai-based FRR Forex.
Take Citibank’s new World Money Visa Platinum card — aimed at individual leisure travellers. As Sandeep Bhalla, business head, credit payment products, Citibank India, points out, 10 million to 12 million Indians go abroad for non-business purposes each year. They’re taking total forex of $3.5 billion to $4 billion per annum. “This was an amazing market to capture,”he says.
So Citibank expanded upon its existing product which is aimed at corporates, adding more features and benefits to suit individual travellers and tied up with Visa Platinum too. “It’s a combination of convenience and security. Also, the fit with Visa was perfect,” says Bhalla.
While its corporate World Money card was available in the US dollar, pound and euro, Citibank has added three more currencies on its new card: the Singapore, Australian and Canadian dollar. It also has a better exchange rate on it. Moreover, the Visa Platinum platform brings benefits like a concierge service for information assistance and discounts at shopping outlets and hotels.
The new card comes with an insurance cover of Rs 50,000 for fraud committed as many as 96 hours prior to reporting loss. There’s a free international calling card too.
While you need to load a minimum $1,000 on Citibank’s new card, the minimum amount on PNB’s card is just $100. PNB’s card is available in the dollar, pound and euro. And it has loss insurance of up to $5,000, although loss must be reported within 24 hours.You can’t load more than one currency on any forex card. Apart from using them at points of sale, you can also use them to withdraw cash from ATMs in any country. There are charges for balance enquiry and cash withdrawals though, which vary from bank to bank.
Issuance fees too vary. Citibank has no issuance fee while PNB’s issue fee is Rs 100.
