| Abstract | The people behind plastic money make the most profit from interest payments on overdue bills and cash advances. According to Niall Brady, a senior researcher and analyst with the Dublin-based financial-services research organization Lafferty Group, many of the cards used in the region are debit cards, which deduct money from the holder's bank account as soon as a purchase is made. The number of credit cards - plastic that allows users to pay only a portion of what they owe every month - is estimated at less than 310 million across Asia in 1995. That is not a lot in a region that is home to about half of humanity. But as Asians grow more affluent,card associations like Visa and Master-Card are betting they will be willing to take on more debt to finance their purchases. They see oportunities in the rising numbers of Asians traveling overseas and the liberalization of the financial-services industry. |
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