They have them in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and London and now Go4it - a credit card that doubles as a travel card - has arrived in the UAE. Launched this week at an elaborate press conference that involved leggy blonde models, music and a panel of senior figures from Emirates NBD, Visa and Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, Go4it combines a Visa card with Dubai's NoL travelcard. This means you can not only shop, but also swipe the same card to board the metro, a bus, a water taxi or even pay at a parking meter. What's more, the credit card has an automatic top-up facility that credits your NoL or Salik accounts the moment you go below a certain balance. Interestingly, it took almost four years for this credit card - the first of its kind in the Middle East - to come into existence. Sachin Bountra, Visa's business development director Middle East, told me that Visa and the RTA spoke about the product over three-and-a-half years ago before the Metro was even launched. Then the RTA announced a partnership with NBD 18 months ago and that's when the development process started. "It's taken a while to bring it to life, which demonstrates the complexity of these products," says Mr Bountra, explaining how the RTA dealt with the challenge of integrating the NoL card with a payment product. "They run on two different systems. For the auto top-up feature, for example, the card goes back into the Emirates NBD system and says 'the value has dropped' so the NBD system says 'top it up' and goes back to the RTA system. There is a lot of back and forth. "Right from the start, the RTA took an integrated approach to transport payments and what we've done is to take the NoL a step further so that you can use it as a payment card and as a NoL card so that you don't have to carry multiple cards in your pocket. "You can use the same card for parking, the metro, buses and Salik so it doesn't matter what type of commuter you are, you will use it in one way or another." For those who want to know the finer details of what the card offers, there are two options: Go4it Gold, which requires a minimum salary of Dh5,000 and has Dh99 in annual charges, and Go4it Platinum with a minimum income of Dh10,000 and Dh199 in charges. The card, which comes with complimentary life insurance cover of Dh100,000, travel insurance of up to Dh1 million and Lifestyle Protector Insurance of up to Dh30,000, also offers a range of rewards, loyalty points and rewards. For more information, go to .
