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EastWest Travel Money – The First Multi-Currency Prepaid Card in Southeast Asia

EastWest Bank, one of the fastest growing banks in the country, recently launched the EastWest Travel Money, the first multi-currency prepaid card in Southeast Asia which can carry up to six (6) different foreign currencies – US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Australian Dollar, Hong Kong Dollar and Japanese Yen.

EW Travel Money Launch executives
Flashing EastWest Travel Money cards are, from left: EastWest President & CEO Antonio C. Moncupa, Jr., EastWest VP & Head of Bank Marketing and Corporate Communications Allan M. Tumbaga, Visa Country Manager for the Philippines & Guam Iain Jamieson and EastWest EVP & Head of Retail Banking & Operations Cluster Gerry Susmerano.

The EastWest Travel Money provides practicality and security to travelers who can now purchase foreign currencies for loading onto their cards when exchange rates are low.  The exchange rate is locked-in for the currencies loaded, hence, protecting funds from fluctuating foreign exchange rates.

Travelers can also withdraw cash in local currencies from 2 million ATMs worldwide, and make purchases from tens of millions of merchants that accept Visa worldwide.

EastWest Travel Money requires low load amount and no minimum maintaining balance, as compared to a foreign currency denominated deposit account. The minimum load amount is roughly the equivalent of USD10 in any of the currency and maximum load amount across all currency wallets is USD12,000 in a single card.  Moreover, there are no annual fees, finance charges, monthly payments and late charges to worry about as compared to credit cards.

As a security feature, should the card get lost or stolen, the EastWest Travel Money comes with a companion card which can be used as an emergency card to access the loaded funds.  Monitoring and tracking of load balances, transaction details, changing of PIN and locking/unlocking of card can easily be done via www.travelmoney.eastwestbanker.com.

The EastWest Travel Money is now available at any EastWest Bank branch store.  Interested individuals can purchase without the need to open a foreign currency account with the bank.

“We are pleased to be the first bank to launch a multi-currency prepaid card.  The EastWest Travel Money is a testament of our commitment to provide world-class products that are relevant to the needs of our customers,” said EastWest Bank Executive Vice President and Head of Retail Banking and Operations Gerry Susmerano.

Iain Jamieson, Visa Country Manager for the Philippines and Guam, believes Visa prepaid cards will continue to grow in popularity as travelers from the Philippines view these products as a more convenient and secure way to pay over cash.

“We are proud to partner with EastWest Bank to celebrate this milestone, which brings the benefits of a multi-currency prepaid travel money card to Filipino travelers.  The EastWest Travel Money offers a simple and convenient way for Filipino travelers to pay, reducing the reliance on cash which can be less secure and harder to track when traveling abroad,” said Jamieson.

EastWest Bank also announced its Travel Money promo.  More customers have the chance to be among the first to own and experience the convenience of EastWest Travel Money as the bank is waiving its Php500 card application fee and loading fee of USD5 from October until December 31, 2013.

Written by Melo Villareal

Melo Villareal is the Online Publisher of Outoftownblog.com. He is an Accountant by profession who left the corporate world at the age of 23 to explore his beautiful country and the rest of the world. Today, Melo works as a part-time Social Media Manager for local and international clients. His full-time work focuses on discovering interesting culture, explore different cuisines and take memorable photos from local and international destinations he's visiting.

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