New Zealand's largest department store group, The Warehouse, has launched two of its own Visa credit cards aimed at building a loan book worth NZ$600 million within five years.The Warehouse owns a chain of 92 "big box" discount stores in New Zealand's biggest cities and towns, as well as 65 Warehouse Stationary stores selling office and school supplies, 78 Noel Leeming stores selling electronics and home appliances and the Torpedo7 group of online sporting goods retailers. Together, the Warehouse group is also New Zealand's second-biggest online retailer behind Trade Me.More than one million New Zealanders go into one of the group's stores every week and The Warehouse's entry in its own right represents the biggest large-scale challenge to the big four bank card issuers, including ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank's BNZ and Commonwealth Bank of Australia's ASB. The Warehouse is aiming to emulate the success in financial services of Tesco in the UK, and its decision to buy Westpac New Zealand out of their 14-year-old financial services joint venture in September was closely watched. The Warehouse Group's financial services chief executive, Mark Yeoman, told Banking Day the group wanted to increase its receivables from around NZ$70 million currently to NZ$600 million within five years, with the aim of generating NZ$25 to NZ$30 million in net earnings by then.The Warehouse announced on Friday it had launched two Visa cards without annual fees or administration fees.  They included a Warehouse Money Red Visa card offering a five per cent discount on purchases at The Warehouse's own Red Shed stores. Warehouse Money's Purple Visa card earns two "purple dollars" for each NZ$150 spent at the Warehouse and one purple dollar for every NZ$150 spent everywhere else Visa is accepted. "We think that that's a reasonable discount that can be quite attractive because it's on top of those things that are already on special," Yeoman said.The cards offer the usual 30-day interest free period before a 19.95 per cent interest rate is incurred, although cash advances incur a 22.95 per cent interest rate immediately.  These rates are in line with bank rates.Yeoman said The Warehouse already had a securitisation facility with Westpac for NZ$225 million and would fund 80 per cent of its receivables through this facility, with the remainder funded with equity from The Warehouse Group's balance sheet. He said The Warehouse aimed to continue on for now with its partnerships with SBS Bank's Finance Now for its interest-free hire purchase offers to Noel Leeming and Warehouse Stationary customers, and its partnership with GE Money for line of credit cards to Noel Leeming and Warehouse Stationary customers, but that these would be wound down over the next three to five years.Warehouse Money also launched travel and health insurance in partnership with NIB, and car, contents and home insurance in partnership with Suncorp Group's Vero.