The long tradition in issuing and accepting cards is one of the
important elements of PBZ Card's success. The Company's brand with
the longest presence on the market is certainly American Express,
present already for more than thirty five years on the Croatian
market, while PBZ Group was one of the first in Croatia to
introduce MasterCard and Visa card products.
There are forty products and a large number of services, many of
them introduced to the Croatian market by PBZ Card and this makes
the Company's history rich with significant events. Among the most
important years is 1965, when Zagreb Esplanade Hotel became the
first sales establishments accepting American Express cards in
Croatia, and 1972, when the license agreement was closed between
the Atlas travel agency and American Express. Already in the next
year the first series of personal American Express (charge) cards
were issued. In 1994 the first Gold Card was issued, as the
prestigious card intended for people with higher income. Since 1998
the American Express card issuing and accepting licensee is
Privredna banka Zagreb, that is, PBZ Card. Due to the strong
support by Privredna banka Zagreb, which is at the top of Croatian
banking, the new era of fast development ensued, when the company
introduced numerous new products and services. The American Express
portfolio in Croatia now has about 25 various products, and PBZ
Card is one of the most successful licensees of this brand in the
world.
From the rich history of American Express we should also mention
the year 2000, when cardmembers in Croatia were offered a
possibility to participate in the Membership Rewards program,
rewarding them with attractive gifts. In 2003, Blue from
American Express was introduced to the market as the first card
with the chip technology, and in 2004 the Platinum Card, the most
prestigious card on the market. There is also the new American
Express Card with a Heart, issued in 2008, with a humanitarian
character because PBZ Card donates money to the project "Monitoring
Children with Neurorisks" for each purchase with this card.
Business with banking cards began in 1998, when Privredna banka
Zagreb enabled the acceptance of MasterCard cards on ATMs and POS
devices, and in 1999, when it started issuing Maestro debit cards,
tied to the current account, as one of the first on the
market. During the next years the range of MasterCard and Visa
brands would be expanded with many charge, debit, credit and
pre-paid cards for individuals and legal entities.
Among numerous innovative MasterCard and Visa products we can
point out My Way Visa Classic card, the first Visa card in
the Central and Eastern Europe with an option to create your own
card design or select among the prepared designs, as well as the
financial package PBZ Totalna Inovacija, consisting of the PBZ
Maestro card, the first debit card on the Croatian market tied to
the current account and with the option of payment installments
with no interests or fees.
In 2007, PBZ Card purchased JUMBO TRAVEL SERVICES, Ltd, a
successful travel agency, and thus strengthened its travel
arrangements and other programs with special benefits for
cardmembers. In the beginning of 2008, as the first on the Croatian
market, PBZ Card finalized the project of implementing the EMV
(chip) technology to the entire card portfolio, thus offering
additional security and simplicity of card use.
This chip technology enabled the introduction of My Card in
2008 - the new brand and benefit program. It is one of the most
modern reward programs for all PBZ and PBZ Card cards - personal
American Express, MasterCard, Maestro, Visa and Visa Electron chip
cards. The program offers a higher level of payment services for
clients and sales establishments, enables the use of various
benefits at sales establishments of select partners and rewards
cardmembers' loyalty with benefits available at the sales
establishment in real time.