Citibank remains biggest credit card issuer

Citibank is still the country’s biggest credit card issuer with a total of 1.2 million cardholders as of end-December last year.

“Our new accounts alone grew by 45 percent,” Bea T. Tan, Citibank vice president and cards business director, said.

The end-2007 figure represents a 30-percent growth in card sales overall as well as cards receivable, Tan said.

Citibank claims to account for over 2,000 merchants, including restaurants, hotels, department stores, supermarkets, boutiques, and airlines.

Meanwhile, Tan pointed to what they call as emerging markets for the plastic business last year such as gasoline stations, utilities including telecommunications, insurance premiums, and tuition fees.

Noteworthy is the expanding business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, made up mainly of young professionals, which has been taking  larger share of the card business. Tan said this  has also been changing the marketing practices of various merchants or establishments.

“Its just a matter of maturity on the part of BPO professionals on how to spend wisely, to avoid payment defaults or poor credit habits,” Tan said.

Potential markets for the next two years are hospitals, fastfoods, and bazaars.

Tan stressed that other card issuers, be they bank or non-banking institutions, are competitors. But the real competitor is the prevailing habit of the banking public to rely heavily on cash versus credit cards.

“To remain competitive, card issuers must introduce new products, new schemes, enhancements to existing products, and understand better the needs of the banking public,” Tan said.

There are five million cards in force nationwide, which are generally issued by the banking community. Aside from Citibank, the other leading card issuers are the Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO), the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank), Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP), and Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC).

The industry grew by 7.8 percent in 2006.