Indonesians rated most extravagant

Indonesians rated most extravagant

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian holders of American Express cards
rank first in Asia in terms the amount of money spent using the
cards, an executive said yesterday.

Roy Tan Hardy, director of marketing and sales at American
Express Travel Related Services Indonesia, said Indonesians spend
an average of more than US$10,000 per card per annum.

"That's an average. If you pinpoint individual cardholders,
you will see a wide range of spending levels. Some spend more
than US$200 million, others less than $10 million," Hardy said
after singing an agreement with Bank Jaya for marketing the
cards.

Hardy said the number of American Express cards issued in
Indonesia currently stands at 40,000, as compared with 36.3
million cards held worldwide.

"We measure our business growth, not on the basis of the
number of new cards, but on the total amount of spending on each
card. The greater the spending, the higher our growth is," Hardy
said.

Hardy said that only 1.3 million payment cards, ranging from
credit cards to charge cards from various issuers, are in use in
Indonesia. At the same time, money spent using the cards
constitutes between 3 and 4 four percent of total consumer
spending in the country. (rid)