AAP
Virgin credit card launch delayed
August 29, 2002
THE launch of Virgin's credit card operations in Australia would be delayed up to six months, group chairman Sir Richard Branson has said.
Despite suggesting a fortnight ago the card would be ready by March next year, Sir Richard said today unforeseen complications such as the legal action over use of the Sydney Airport Terminal had forced the delay.
"We've launched in the UK, we're just launching in America, we will be launching soon in Australia," Sir Richard said.
"But right now we're just concentrating on building the Virgin mobile phone company and building Virgin Blue.
"I hope that we would have launched Virgin credit cards within 12 months."
Sir Richard said it made sense to use the credit-card service to tie together the company's retail, mobile phone and airline arms.
"Now that we've got Virgin retail shops, we've got the mobile-phone business doing very well and we've got Virgin Blue well established, it makes sense to have a credit card to try to pull the various companies together and offer the consumers good value," he said.
"It will offer much better interest rates than currently on offer, and discounts on your DVDs, your CDs, your air travel, your mobile phones."
Sir Richard said he had not yet looked closely at proposed changes to Australia's credit-card system released by the Reserve Bank on Tuesday.
It has been reported the basic interest rate on the Virgin credit card could be one-third less than that of existing cards.
Sir Richard was in Melbourne to promote Virgin Blue's new service from Melbourne to Hobart, which costs from $99 one-way for Internet bookings, with a fully flexible one-way fare of $209.
AAP