All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
Designing success through innovation
Differentiation is a cornerstone of card issuing profitability models, and functions as an effective customer acquisition tool Innovative visual design has helped La Caixa to become a leading player in Spains cards market Justin Bandy reports.Barcelona-based savings bank La Caixa is a major player in the Spanish cards market
MasterCard posts rise in Q4 profit
MasterCard Incorporated has reported financial results for the fourth quarter of 2006, with net income rising to $41 million, compared with a loss of $53 million in the same period a year ago, and net revenues rising by 17.2 percent to reach $839 million, partly due to increased fees on international purchases, which contributed 1.9 percent of the increase in revenues for the quarter MasterCards share price quickly surged to a 52-week high following the results announcement, but soon fell by 11 percent due to investor concerns about the companys profit margins in 2007.MasterCards higher revenue in the fourth quarter versus the same period in 2005 was driven by growth in gross dollar volume (GDV), which increased 13.8 percent, on a local currency basis, to $532 billion; a 17.4 percent increase in the number of transactions processed to 4.4 billion; and a restructuring of cross-border transaction pricing which was implemented in April 2006
The gain in Spain
Cards usage is booming in Spain and the country benefits from having one of the most developed payment infrastructures in Europe
Can a credit card be halal?
Islamic credit cards present a continuing challenge to Islamic banks, which have to balance Sharia compliance with business objectives and consumer demand CI looks at how the product is developing.The conventional credit card encounters fundamental problems under Sharia law
Equens makes its mark in Europe
Dutch banking group ABN AMRO and payment processor Equens have signed an agreement under which Equens will provide Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) debit card processing services to ABN AMRO for a period of five years, effective from 1 January 2009.Equens was formed from the merger of Dutch payment processor Interpay and German processor Transaktioninstitut, and processed approximately 7 billion payment transactions in 2006 This represented a market share of over 10 percent within the eurozone, making Equens one of the largest payment service providers operating in Europe.Equens said that the switch to SEPA will have far-reaching consequences for product and business development, and that Equenss integrated approach will enable a smooth transition to SEPA, allowing clients to reap maximum benefits from arising market opportunities.Ben Haasdijk, chairman of the board of directors of Equens, said: “By choosing Equens, ABN AMRO shows trust in Equenss international strategic roadmap, as we are aiming to be one of the leading European payment service processors, both in payments as well as in debit card processing
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Paper makes way for payment cards
Card payments are taking market share away from cash and cheques as issuers find innovative ways to respond to customers needs, and at the same time improve profitability The growth in debit usage and innovations such as micropayments are also cutting into cash
Prudential sells Egg to Citigroup
The purchase price secured by Citigroup for 100 percent ownership of Egg is far below the businesss market value of £1.1 billion in February 2006, when it was delisted from the UK stock market.Citigroup said it intends to retain the Egg brand and the unit will be combined with its UK consumer operations
Kasikornbank shifts focus to loyalty
Titien Ahmad reports.Thanks to the convergence of smart card chip technology and the rising popularity of loyalty programmes, Thailands Kasikornbank recently launched a merchant promotion programme targeted at increasing customer spend at the point of sale The programme, Smart Shopping, rides on the banks chip cards platform and European software developer Welcomes payment technology to allow merchants to run in-store rewards and loyalty programmes.This roll-out is part of the banks strategic shift towards increasing transaction volume and card spending instead of expanding the customer base through card issuance
Region Round Up: North America
Citigroups US consumer credit card business posted net income of $1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to $444 million in the same period of 2005… Card payments processor TSYS says its net income for the fourth quarter of 2006 was up 75 percent year-on-year to $87 million, while revenues rose by 20 percent to $503.9 million…
Region Round Up: Latin America
Chilean retail and financial services group Ripley is planning to grow its private-label credit card lending by 27 percent this year in Chile and Peru compared to 2006…