LONDON Despite plunging global markets and creeping worldwide recession, the Kazkommertsbank, based in commodities-rich Kazakhstan, is teaming up with MasterCard to launch the 'Diamond', aimed at the growing number of billionaires in this vast central Asian nation.

The card features a 0.02-carat diamond embedded in its centre. The 'his' version is adorned with a picture of a winged horse, while the 'hers' sports a peacock. With an annual fee of $1,000, a credit limit of $50,000 and round-the-clock access to a personal card 'manager', it will be launched in two weeks' time and aimed at recession-proof multi-millionaires.

The number of cards issued will be strictly limited to just 1,000 at a rate of 30 each month. Kazkommertsbank's head of international payments systems, Alla Voyakina, has said the bank intends to target 'the best VIP customers'.

The last Soviet republic to declare independence, in 1991, the country boasts abundant supplies of minerals and fossil fuels. It aims to be the world's leading exporter of uranium by 2010. It also produces diamonds.

The bank has said that the embedded diamond is only a 'design feature' to demonstrate the status of the customer. It has been tested thoroughly to ensure it will fit into cash machines and point-of-sales slots.

“Rich people can afford to have such cards,” Voyakina told the Financial Times. “It's a question of prestige to have them in your wallet.”—Dawn/ The Guardian News Service