Intu-MBNA tie-up creates ‘credit card first’
Shopping centre group Intu has teamed up with Chester-based bank MBNA to create a credit card as part of a strategy to make Intu a “national consumer-facing brand”.
Intu credit cardholders will be able to tap into benefits including gift cards, shopping and restaurant offers, membership to the Gourmet Society dining club, entry into quarterly prize draws.
Intu and MBNA said in a joint statement that card was the first for a shopping centre operator in the UK. They went on: “Over 35 million customers – equivalent to more than half the nation’s population – visit intu’s UK shopping centres every year, which include Intu Trafford Centre, Intu Lakeside Essex, Intu Metrocentre Newcastle, and Intu Victoria Centre Nottingham. All in all, Intu customers make an incredible 400 million centre visits a year.”
Trevor Pereira, Intu’s digital and commercial director, said: “Thanks to Intu’s nationwide scale and consumer-facing brand, we’ve been able to team up with the UK’s leading credit card experts, MBNA, to create a sector-first commercial agreement that will form an integral part of our ongoing brand-building strategy and help all our retailers to flourish.”
Michael Donald, MBNA’s commercial and payments executive, commented: “While many other credit card providers have been downgrading their loyalty and reward programmes or exiting this market completely, MBNA has worked with intu to take a completely fresh approach for customers.”
The new Intu credit card is available for eligible new customers to apply for now. The card is launched with a promotional rate of 0% on card purchases for up to 12 months from when the account is opened. When this offer period comes to an end, a standard rate, which is currently 16.9%, will apply.
