Going the American way

CHENNAI: Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) together with American Express on Wednesday launched American Express Premium Cards. Targeting the high-end customers, the credit cards, Gold and Platinum cards, will be jointly distributed by the two financial institutions. The cards come with the logo of both IOB and American Express. Unveiling the cards, M Narendra, chairman and MD, IOB, said the company is becoming more and more customer-centric. “The gold and platinum cards will meet the needs and the convenience of the customers,” said Narendra and added that they currently have 40,000 credit card customers. The American Express premium cards (gold charge and platinum cards) will be available for free for IOB customers for the first year. The credit cards are available at 500 branches of IOB in New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. While the Amex IOB Gold Charge card comes with the annual fees of `4,500-plus taxes, the platinum card will be available for `10,000-plus taxes and for lifetime card the cost will be `50,000 plus taxes. Shailesh Baidwan, country manager and head of consumer cards, American Express, said it was a new relation between two strong financial institutions. Acclaimed vocalist Balamuralikrishna and actor Suriya received the Platinum cards from Narendra and Shailesh.