Payment Card Competitor Tracker: March 2008

Publication Date	June 2008
Publisher	Datamonitor
Product Type	Report
Pages	37
ISBN Number	not applicable
Product Code	DAT12738

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Summary

Introduction

The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides expert analysis and opinion on the strategic moves of leading competitors in the payment cards market. Produced on a monthly basis, the Tracker is a global product and covers 64 players, including American Express, Barclaycard, Capital One, Citigroup, Discover, GE Money, First Data, HSBC, JCB, MasterCard, Standard Chartered and Visa.

Reasons to Purchase

Gain invaluable information on your key competitors in one concise document, and track long-term trends using the 12 month news datapack
Keep fully informed of the market, product, competitor and strategic developments of leading players in your market and region
Learn the Datamonitor Cards & Payments Team's view on the most important competitor developments in the month.

Content

Overview
Catalyst
Summary
Methodology
LIST OF TABLES
- Introduction
- The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides both one month and 12 month views of developments
- Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from 64 competitors
- Datamonitor's Cards and Payments Team provides analysis of the key developments at both the one month and 12 month level
- A fully searchable database of the past 12 months of developments is also delivered alongside the report
- Key Trends and Developments in March
- Visa's IPO is the biggest story of the month, but there were several other notable developments
- Visa raised $19.65 billion from its IPO, the largest in corporate history
- The collapse of Bear Stearns is interesting in a broader context
- GE Money and Banco Santander's deals see GE return to its commercial roots, while Santander makes a strong push into consumer finance in Europe
- GE Money's Earth product highlights a trend towards 'eco-friendly' driven value propositions
- HSBC and Standard Chartered both achieved approval to incorporate locally in Vietnam
- March was a busy month led by a large volume of M&A related developments
- March saw a total of 54 competitor developments, the highest level of activity in 2008 so far
- The bulk of developments were in M&A, in spite the current credit crisis
- North America and Asia-Pacific continue to account for the majority of competitor activity
- Card issuers account for the majority of developments in March, with card schemes comparatively quiet
- Co-brand, premium and commercial products were the most prevalent in March
- Co-branding continues to be an important area of focus for issuers
- Developments in commercial card offerings highlight the attention now being paid to this sector
- The drive to segment customer bases is pushing innovation and development in the premium sector
- A further interesting product development has been product personalization
- M&A and organic growth announcements featured strongly in March
- Barclaycard and US Bancorp both announced acquisitions in their domestic markets
- Barclaycard also announced the acquisition of Russia's Expobank, while KBC has agreed to take full ownership of Slovakia's Istrobanka
- TSYS's processing agreement with Standard Bank will strengthen its position in Africa
- JP Morgan's agreement with NASA could see it put the first payment card on Mars
Product, Services and Innovation
American Express
- US: American Express adds StubHub to small business savings program
Bank of America
- UK: MBNA and MasterCard bring contactless payment to Manchester City FC
- US: Bank of America launches baseball-themed checking and credit card products
Citigroup
- Italy: Citi and Italian Automobile Club launch Citi ACI Visa Card
- Pakistan: Citibank Credit Cardholders to be offered Gerry's/FedEx discount
- Russia: ZAO Citibank and Stockmann launch co-branded card
GE Money
- Thailand: GE Money Thailand offers 'GE Money Mobile Payment'
JP Morgan Chase
- US: JP Morgan introduces new freight payment and audit solution
- US: JP Morgan launches corporate platinum and gold travel and entertainment cards
Maybank
- Malaysia: Maybank launches Treatspoints instant redemption loyalty scheme
- Malaysia: Maybank launches debit card in partnership with Visa
- Malaysia: Maybank launches card aimed at affluent customers
Royal Bank of Canada
- Canada: RBC launches card for high net worth customers
US Bancorp
- US: US Bancorp introduces Payment Plus online payment system
TSYS
- US: TSYS launches healthcare benefits payments system
Visa
- UK: Foodservice company EAT installs Visa contactless payments system
- US: Visa expands small business discount offers program
- M&A, Partnerships and Organic Growth
American Express
- US: American Express to acquire GE Money's corporate payment services
Atos-Origin
- UK: Atos-Origin is awarded BP card processing contract
Bank of America
- US: Bank of America and MIT Media Lab create Center for Future Banking
Bank of Montreal
- Canada: Bank of Montreal opens branch in West Edmonton
- Canada: Bank of Montreal opens branch in Calgary suburb
Barclays
- Russia: Barclays to acquire Russian bank Expobank
BBVA
- Brazil: BBVA sells 5% holding in Bradesco
BNP Paribas
- Russia: BNP Paribas initiates retail banking operations in Russia
Capital One
- US: Capital One enters New York market
Citigroup
- Bahrain: Citibank and AXA launch auto-insurance payment scheme
- Hong Kong: Citifinancial opens North Point and Yau Ma Tei branches
- Japan: Citi announces new group structure in Japan
- Russia: ZAO Citibank launches Ryazan Operations Center
- US: Citibank opens new financial centers across US
Crdit Agricole
- Europe: Crdit Agricole in joint venture negotiations with Banco Popolare
Discover
- UK: Discover completes sale of Goldfish to Barclays
First Data
- US: First Data to provide merchant services to Cathay Bank
Grupo Santander
- Spain: Santander and GE Money reach preliminary agreement
HSBC
- Vietnam: HSBC to incorporate in Vietnam
ICBC
- China: ICBC completes Standard Bank equities purchase
- China: ICBC launches strategic cooperation with Standard Bank
ING
- Netherlands: ING to invest in its retail banking network in the Netherlands
Intesa Sanpaolo
- Intesa Sanpaolo sells branches to Banca Carige for €996 million
JP Morgan Chase
- US: Chase Card Services acquires Unicorn Financial
- US: JP Morgan Chase to acquire Bear Stearns
- US: JP Morgan extends local presence in Latin America
- US: NASA selects JP Morgan Chase for charge card program
KBC
- Slovakia: KBC acquires full ownership of Istrobanka
Maybank
- Cambodia: Maybank opens second branch in Cambodia
- Indonesia: Maybank wins the bid to acquire Bank Internasional Indonesia
- Vietnam: Maybank acquires a stake in Vietnam's ABBank
Royal Bank of Canada
- Trinidad and Tobago: RBC subsidiary amalgamation receives RBTT shareholder approval
- Standard Chartered
- Vietnam: Standard Chartered receives in principle approval to locally incorporate in Vietnam
TSYS
- South Africa: TSYS signs payment processing agreement with Standard Bank
US Bancorp
- US: US Bancorp acquires Mellon 1st Business Bank
Visa
- US: Visa launches IPO
Washington Mutual
- US: Washington Mutual announces ATM branding partnership with Cardtronics
- Methodology
- Further reading
- Ask the analyst
- Datamonitor consulting
Disclaimer
LIST OF TABLES
- Table 1: The 64 companies and subsidiaries covered by Datamonitor's Payment Card Competitor Tracker
LIST OF FIGURES
- Figure 1: March saw a total of 54 competitor developments among Datamonitor's list of tracked companies, significantly ahead of the average over the previous 12 months, 2008
- Figure 2: In line with the trend over the rest of the quarter, the majority of competitor developments have been in M&A, partnerships and organic growth announcements, 2008
- Figure 3: North America and Asia-Pacific continue to account for the majority of competitor activity, but March also saw three developments in Middle East and Africa, 2008
- Figure 4: Card issuers accounted for the bulk of developments in March, with card schemes/associations noticeably quiet, 2008
- Figure 5: Developments in co-branding, premium products, and commercial offerings have all been prevalent in March, 2008
- Figure 6: M&A and organic growth announcements featured strongly in March, 2008