RIYADH, 20 October — American Express launched here yesterday its new Saudi riyal-denominated Blue Card for the Saudi market.
This new offering was announced at a press conference held jointly by Mazin Khoury, chief executive officer of Amex (Saudi Arabia) Ltd., and Andrew Goddard, head of sales and marketing.
Khoury said the Blue Card has several features, including one percent moneyback guarantee on all purchases, payment by instalments, free additional cards for family members of the card holder and secure shopping.
He explained that each time the card is used for shopping SR1 will be refunded on every SR100 that is spent. "Moneyback is automatically totaled up and credited to his account every 12 months."
Khoury said the statement would be billed in Saudi riyals. The card-holder will have the option of paying his balance in full entailing no additional service charge. Alternatively, he could pay the minimum amount and spread the remaining payments over time.
In response to a question, Goddard said that with additional Blue Cards, the customer could share all the advantages by nominating any members of his immediate family, provided they are over 18, at no extra fee. The supplementary card also combines all the advantages of the principal card.
As for the safety features, he said it comes with an Online Fraud Guarantee. Thus, their retail protection insurance insures most of the customer’s purchases for accidental loss, damage or theft, he added.
Additionally, there is the worldwide travel accident insurance, emergency assistance and access to American Express network of worldwide travel offices.
The customer could withdraw cash from any ATM of the Saudi Investment Bank or from over 500,000 ATMs worldwide, he added.
