Dubai: Now you can buy your gold and swipe it too with a luxury, handmade credit card — the latest VIP gimmick to come to Dubai.
Payment cards decorated with embedded gold, precious stones and diamond designs may be soon be made available here for high net worth bank customers.
Rosan Diamond, a subsidiary of Russian card solutions company Rosan, is eyeing the Middle East as its next target market, Rob Clark, Rosan's International Marketing Director, told Gulf News. Dubai is their first search foray in the region.
The cards are priced between €100 (Dh494) and €500, depending on the design, and diamond quality, he said. Clients can order custom-made pieces to suit their tastes. Rosan Diamonds has offered the cards through Visa in the past year and is now in talks with MasterCard. Banks can issue the cards to their top 500 highest net worth individuals, Clark said.
Feeling of warmth
"For people that use cards for payments, they should get a feeling of warmth when they open their wallet," he added.
Some banks and luxury brands in Dubai had warmed up to the idea and shown "real interest" in the cards. The jewelled cards work like regular credit cards and the embedding technology does not interfere with the financial transactions, Clark said.
