If you are the sort of person who needs a credit card having a maximum limit of €50,000, then you could probably benefit from some other services, like a concierge service to deal with your hotel and restaurant bookings, for example, all of which will be automatically charged to your card.
This is just one benefit of the Insignia Platinum card to be launched in the coming months – but it is actually just the tip of what could be a much larger iceberg.
Insignia Cards commenced operations in 2011 and launched its first product locally a few months ago, with considerably more fanfare than one would anticipate for a local card, which was co-branded with Valletta FC.
To understand this, you have to take into account that its roots lie with Insignia Lifestyle, an international firm set up in 1995 to provide lifestyle management services for the high net worth individuals.
It provided credit cards through a third party bank, but it wanted to be able to issue its own and looked to the Maltese jurisdiction as the ideal one.
It eventually got a licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority and has also been accepted as a Visa issuer to issue credit cards. But the reality is that the considerable investment required to operate a credit card infrastructure – including a 24/7 call centre – justifies a much larger market and Insignia is applying to the MFSA to be able to use its Maltese licence to issue credit cards across the EU.
And while they were working on the international expansion, they thought they might as well offer a card to the local market – and decided to issue the Yes Money Card, the Yes Money Visa and the Yes e-Card, as well as to co-brand an Insignia card with Valletta FC, the first cards in Malta which are not issued by a bank.
“Credit cards issued by local banks are usually a secondary product compared to their main banking products, thus are not marketed as actively as ours. For us credit cards are our principal activity,” CEO Frederick Ellul said, explaining the higher emphasis on benefits.
The lower limit card was co-branded with Lighthouse’s Yes brand, which is looking after its marketing through its various consumer products like its door-to-door publication and its TV programme.
The success of both cards has prompted Insignia to plan the Insignia Platinum card, which offers a maximum credit limit of €50,000, a niche, which is not really being catered for by other local cards.
“People who have that sort of turnover on their card are the ones who are constantly travelling. So the concierge services will be invaluable to them,” Dr Ellul said.
From using Malta to issue credit cards, to using Malta’s EU credentials to passport the licence overseas, to issuing local cards, what is next?
Dr Ellul’s eyes twinkled.
“We are also open to other opportunities that crop up over the coming years but the common thread through any expansion would be retaining the focus on high net worth individuals.
“And if there are any other football clubs – anywhere in Europe – who want to co-brand with Insignia once we get passporting rights, well, you know where we are!”