Chinabank’s @home Visa Platinum credit card reflects a strategic move toward household-centric solutions, addressing spending patterns and financial responsibilities across family units Nina May Reynoso, head of cards and personal loans group at Chinabank, described the reasoning behind these initiatives. “We realised there wasn’t a credit card that truly served families. We wanted to create a product that covers tuition, groceries, healthcare and the everyday expenses that matter to households,” she explained. This practical perspective guided both the design and deployment of the products, targeting financial behaviours that were previously underserved. Identifying a gap in household financial tools While the Philippine credit card market is diverse, most offerings remain segmented and narrowly focused. Rewards and cash-back programs tend to target single categories such as groceries, shopping, or utilities, often emphasising transactional benefits rather than comprehensive household support. Chinabank identified an opportunity to integrate multiple household needs into a single credit instrument, ensuring relevance across a range of family types, including single-parent households, adult children supporting relatives and dual-income families. This insight informed product design choices such as no-annual-fee supplementary cards and instalment plans for tuition and healthcare. The bank’s approach relied on a combination of market research, internal testing and cross-functional consultation to validate the practical relevance of these features. The @home Visa Platinum is structured to support household-level financial activity. It offers 5% cash back across all spending categories with flexible instalment options for tuition and hospitalisation. Supplementary cards carry no annual fees, allowing extended family members to participate. “We designed the card so that families could share in the benefits without adding cost or complexity,” Reynoso said. Adoption has been rapid. Within three months, the card accounted for 27% of new credit card acquisitions at Chinabank, ranking second in the overall portfolio. The bank’s strategy combined supermarket-based instant issuance with digital campaigns and social media engagement to ensure frictionless access. Early engagement metrics indicate that the card is used as a primary household credit tool. Unlike conventional cash-back products, the @home Visa Platinum integrates multiple household-focused features. Reynoso highlighted the all-encompassing approach: “It’s not just about cash back. We aimed to create a card that meets all the practical needs of households, from daily essentials to planned expenses.” Portfolio implications and measurable impact The @home Visa Platinum alone contributed 10–15% of total cards in force within months of launch. Supplementary card usage reinforces household-level engagement, indicating that activity spans multiple members rather than isolated accounts. Financial discipline underlies all initiatives. “Before launch, we ran extensive financial modelling to ensure the economics were sustainable for at least five years,” Reynoso said. This approach ensures that cash-back and instalment offerings remain viable while supporting practical household spending behaviour. Sustaining engagement through operational discipline Chinabank employed a multichannel strategy, leveraging branch networks, supermarket booths, digital campaigns, and social media to drive visibility and adoption. Feedback from early users informed refinements to reward structures and promotional partnerships. Behavioural metrics indicate that clients are not only adopting this product quickly but also maintaining consistent usage patterns, suggesting that the combination of household relevance and operational accessibility is effective in sustaining engagement. Maintaining all cards products require continuous monitoring and financial discipline. Chinabank tracks adoption, reward costs, credit quality and delinquency metrics to ensure sustainable performance. Cross-functional alignment between consumer lending and retail banking teams allows rapid adjustments based on real-time portfolio data. These operational measures support the multi-feature design of the @home Visa Platinum, ensuring that commercial and behavioural objectives remain aligned. Scaling and refining integrated offerings Looking ahead, Chinabank plans to expand merchant partnerships for the @home Visa Platinum and enhance digital servicing, personalisation and targeted incentives. “This one of our core products” Reynoso said. “We continue to refine our products and servicing to meet household needs while ensuring disciplined financial outcomes.” Chinabank’s integrated approach demonstrates how household-focused product design can generate adoption, engagement, and portfolio impact. By designing products that align with practical household behaviour and rigorously modelling financial sustainability, Chinabank provides a case study in how strategic innovation can create measurable value for both clients and the institution in a competitive consumer banking market.
