Payment Card Tracker: a new report on Bharatbook.com

Bharatbook.com included a new Payment Card Competitor Tracker report (http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=74710) which 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.

Key reasons to read this report
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 It Cards & Payments Team's view on the most important competitor developments in the month.

Table of Contents

Overview

Catalyst

Summary

Methodology

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides both one month and 12 month views of developments

Each month, It tracks the most relevant announcements from 64 competitors

It'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

Crédit Agricole

Europe: Crédit 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

Appendix

Methodology

Further reading

Ask the analyst

It consulting

Disclaimer

List of Tables

Table 1: The 64 companies and subsidiaries covered by It's Payment Card Competitor Tracker

List of Figures

Figure 1: March saw a total of 54 competitor developments among It'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

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