Payment Card Competitor Tracker: August 2011

Report Summary

The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides expert analysis and opinion on the strategic moves of leading competitors in the payment card market. Produced on a monthly basis, the Tracker is a global product and covers over 100 players, including American Express, Barclaycard, Capital One, Citigroup, Discover, GE Money, First Data, HSBC, JCB, MasterCard, Standard Chartered and Visa.

Features and benefits

• *Gain invaluable information on your key competitors in one concise document, and track long-term trends using the interactive news database.
• * Sharpen your strategy by implementing the best market, product, competitor and strategic developments of leading global players.
• * Learn the Datamonitor Cards & Payments Team's view on the most important competitor developments in the month.

Highlights

41 competitor developments are analyzed in the August edition of the Payment Card Competitor Tracker. This remains below the 12-month average of 51 and is a significant fall from the 64 developments in June. This reflects a slowdown in the summer months that is likely to pick up again in September.

Unlike most months, the key developments in August did not occur in the contactless, mobile, online, and prepaid space. This included Visa's announced push to develop EMV acceptance in the US, Bank of America's announced disposal of it internal credit card portfolio, including MBNA in the UK, and HSBC's exit from the US monoline issuing market.

Already holding the highest average number of developments, the mobile space appears to be maintaining its momentum. Once again the mobile channel was the most active in August, with eight stories recorded in total. This is roughly in line with the average over the past 12 months.

Table Of Contents

OVERVIEW
Catalyst
Summary
Methodology

INTRODUCTION
The Payment Card Competitor Tracker provides both one-month and 12-month views of developments
Improvements to the 2011 Payment Card Competitor Tracker series
Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from over 100 competitors
Datamonitor’s Cards and Payments team provides analysis of the key developments at one-month and 12-month intervals
A fully searchable database of developments from January 2007 onwards is also delivered alongside the report

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN AUGUST
Developments in August
EMV migration: Visa announces plans to accelerate migration to EMV in the US
M&A: Bank of America to exit international credit card businesses
M&A: HSBC to sell its card and retail services business in the US
There were 41 developments in August, which is below the 12-month average
The level of competitor activity slowed down again in August, in line with wider seasonal trends
Products, services, and innovation-related developments were slightly below the 12-month average in August
North America had the highest level of activity in August
Issuers accounted for a higher than average level of activity in August
The mobile channel continued to see an increase in developments in August
M&A accounted for the majority of developments in the M&A, partnerships, and organic growth category

PRODUCTS, SERVICES, AND INNOVATION
American Express
US: Verizon to integrate American Express's Serve on wireless phones and tablets
US: Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express offers priority boarding benefit
US: Amex offers Sprint customers mail-in rebates via prepaid cards
US: American Express and Mercedes-Benz launch two co-brand cards
US: American Express OPEN to launch a new online travel booking platform
Bank of China
China: Bank of China launches China's first card to combine social security and financial services
Bank of Moscow
Russia: The Bank of Moscow and Moscow's state services portal pilot a web-based payment for housing and utilities
UK: Barclaycard
Barclaycard Freedom partners with Vouchercloud
US: Barclaycard US and Cartera Commerce partner to increase rewards for Barclaycard customers
BBVA
Spain: BBVA provides mobile banking access with native applications for tablets and smartphones
BNP Paribas
France: BNP Paribas and Orange announce a partnership to launch mobile banking services in France
China UnionPay
China: HTC and China UnionPay bring NFC payments to China
Citigroup
US: Citi launches the first chip and PIN commercial card
Diebold
US: Diebold debuts its NFC-enabled biometric ATM
First Investment Bank
Bulgaria: Fibank and Tieto debut contactless payments in Bulgaria
FNB
South Africa: FNB PayWallet shows growth a year after its launch
South Africa: Cardless cash withdrawals are growing for FNB
HDFC Bank
India: HDFC Bank launches three premium credit cards
ICICI Bank
India: ICICI Bank launches the Money2India.com money transfer tracking service
Ingenico
Czech Republic: Ingenico delivers terminals for Czech m-payments pilot
JPMorgan Chase
US: Chase Sapphire Preferred announces double points for purchases on travel and dining
Société Générale
China: Société Générale issues a China UnionPay RMB debit card in Beijing
US Bank
US: US Bank to offer EMV chip technology in corporate cards for US-based international travellers
US: Realtime alerts are now available for US Bank ATM and check card customers
US: US Bank and SkoreIt! introduce a co-branded prepaid Visa gift card to penny auction bidders
Visa
France: Visa Europe France and its member banks choose Strasbourg as France’s second contactless payments capital
US: Visa announces plans to accelerate migration to EMV in the US
Canada: Visa launches contactless parking payments
WorldPay
Global: WorldPay and App55 to offer in-app payment solutions

M&A, PARTNERSHIPS, AND ORGANIC GROWTH
Bank of America
Global: Bank of America to exit its international credit card businesses
Capital One
US: Capital One to acquire HSBC's domestic credit card business for approximately $2.6bn
Elavon
Global: Elavon and China UnionPay reach a processing agreement
First Data Corporation
US: First Data Corporation signs a merchant services agreement with Mutual of Omaha Bank
HSBC
US: HSBC to sell its card and retail services business in the US
hyperWALLET
Turkey: hyperWALLET rolls out payment service expansion to turkey
PayPal
US: eBay completes the acquisition of Zong
Société Générale
China: Société Générale issues a China UnionPay RMB debit card in Beijing
TD Bank
Canada: TD Bank Group to acquire MBNA Canada's credit card business

APPENDIX
Methodology
Further reading
Ask the analyst
Datamonitor consulting
Disclaimer

List Of Figurs

Figure: In the August edition of the Payment Card Competitor Tracker , 41 competitor developments are analyzed
Figure: The number of products, services, and innovation developments declined slightly in August and remained lower than the 12-month average
Figure: North America had the highest level of activity, accounting for 18 developments in August
Figure: Of 46 developments, issuers accounted for 19
Figure: Mobile developments remain the most prolific area of activity
Figure: Partnerships were the most numerous development in the M&A, partnerships, and organic growth category