The Global Affinity Finance Club is Finaccord’s quarterly newsletter about affinity financial services worldwide. Through this, Finaccord publishes top line information about key strategic developments in affinity and partnership marketing of financial services around the world, segmented between affinity insurance news, bancassurance news and affinity banking news. This service differs from that provided by other research companies because its focus is genuinely global, often translating news that only appears in languages other than English. In addition, it concentrates exclusively on affinity and partnership marketing strategy. Affinity and partnership marketing strategy is an important component of general distribution strategy for a majority of large banks and insurance companies serving consumers and small businesses as successful partnerships potentially allow them to access groups of customers that they cannot always reach by themselves. If you would like to join Finaccord’s Global Affinity Finance Club, contact us by telephone or send us an email to [email protected]. Thereafter, each quarter, we will send you a link to the page of our website with fresh news and future editions of this document.
AFFINITY INSURANCE BANCASSURANCE AFFINITY BANKING Global Affinity Finance Club Finaccord’s newsletter about affinity financial services worldwide Welcome back to your Club! 2014 begins with the global economy in seemingly better shape than at any time since the boom years of the mid-2000s, albeit some European economies remain troubled. Moreover, as reflected in this latest edition of the Global Affinity Finance Club, the opportunities for financial services companies to create strategic partnerships are be- coming ever more international in nature. Notable initiatives tracked in the final quarter of 2013 included two in Vietnamese bancassurance (BNP Paribas Cardif with Saigon Bank and MetLife with BIDV), one in Chinese automotive finance (BNP Paribas Personal Finance with Geely), one in Spanish consumer fi- nance (Santander with El Corte Inglés) and one in UK retail banking (Barclays with Asda). In addition, a number of relationships have been created or ex- panded with the aim of developing new business across multiple countries. Such deals include those of Affinion with Transamerica Life, Allianz Global Assistance with Ten Lifestyle management, Al- lianz with Ford, American Express with Equity Bank, AXA with Daimler, and MasterCard with NTT DOCOMO. Thus, whether these deals are directly or indirectly relevant to your own particular sphere of interest, there is plenty here to stimulate more general strategic thinking about how different payment, bank- ing, insurance and assistance products can be brought to market. With best regards, Alan Leach Director [email protected]For our published reports, news and more please visit www.finaccord.com 2013 AUTUMN
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AFFINITY INSURANCE
BANCASSURANCE
AFFINITY BANKING
Global Affinity
Finance Club
Finaccord’s newsletter about affinity financial services worldwide
Welcome back to your Club! 2014 begins with the global economy in seemingly better shape than at any time since the boom years of the mid-2000s, albeit some European economies remain troubled. Moreover, as reflected in this latest edition of the Global Affinity Finance Club, the opportunities for financial services companies to create strategic partnerships are be-coming ever more international in nature. Notable initiatives tracked in the final quarter of 2013 included two in Vietnamese bancassurance (BNP Paribas Cardif with Saigon Bank and MetLife with BIDV), one in Chinese automotive finance (BNP Paribas Personal Finance with Geely), one in Spanish consumer fi-nance (Santander with El Corte Inglés) and one in UK retail banking (Barclays with Asda). In addition, a number of relationships have been created or ex-panded with the aim of developing new business across multiple countries. Such deals include those of Affinion with Transamerica Life, Allianz Global Assistance with Ten Lifestyle management, Al-lianz with Ford, American Express with Equity Bank, AXA with Daimler, and MasterCard with NTT DOCOMO. Thus, whether these deals are directly or indirectly relevant to your own particular sphere of interest, there is plenty here to stimulate more general strategic thinking about how different payment, bank-ing, insurance and assistance products can be brought to market. With best regards, Alan Leach
Allianz Global Assistance un-veils partnership with Ten Life-style Management
With a focus on the Asia-Pacific region, Allianz Global Assistance (AGA) and Ten Group, a specialist provider of concierge services, have announced the signing of a new partnership which aims to cre-ate a premium global assistance and lifestyle concierge service. This deal aims to strengthen AGA’s com-petitive position and to create an additional channel that will help it to win distribution mandates with financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific market. Furthermore, both companies hope to gain from in-creased cross-selling opportunities to both existing and new clients.
Allianz and Ford form technical partnership on a pan-European basis
Allianz and Ford have struck up a new partnership in what is referred to by the two companies as 'integrated mobility' which aims at enhancing the mobility and safety of Ford car buyers. The agreement includes the involvement of engi-neers from both Ford and the Al-lianz Zentrum für Technik (AZT) in areas such as driving assistance systems and electro-mobility. The partners have stated that they in-tend to improve both the safety of Ford passenger cars as well to opti-mise insurance solutions for cus-tomers. They also expect that the relationship will create added value for Ford dealers across Europe and
that the exact nature of the part-nership will evolve over time in response to customers’ needs.
Europ Assistance launches mo-bile road assistance app for As-surOne Group customers
In France, Europ Assistance has launched a mobile assistance app for AssurOne and Netvox custom-ers, both of which are part of Assu-rOne Group, a broker specialising in the distribution and management of online insurance solutions. The app is available for free from both Google Play and the iTunes App Store, and it makes it possible for users to request assistance and to be put in direct contact with an operator so as to rapidly trigger roadside assistance at their precise location, thanks to GPS, telematics and other mobile technology. The new app also has a number of other features, including a schedule for staying up-to-date on vehicle servicing, the emergency numbers for over 180 countries, basic first-aid methods and places of interest in the vicinity of the vehicle (plus their websites, phone numbers, opening times, photos and user reviews).
HomeServe to offer warranty plans in conjunction with Charleston Water System
In the US, home emergency assis-tance provider HomeServe has signed a distribution partnership with Charleston Water System (CWS), under which optional war-ranty plans for homeowners’ exte-rior water and sewerage pipes will be offered to the latter firm's cus-tomers, thereby offering them pro-
tection against water and sewer line blocks, breaks and leaks. CWS is a public water and sewerage utility that provides clean water services to more than 110,000 homes and businesses, and waste water ser-vices to more than 50,000 homes and businesses. HomeServe, which serves around 1.4 million home-owners in North America alone, already has approximately 1,000 personal customers in the Charles-ton area, although this new part-nership is likely to significantly in-crease that number in the coming years.
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COMMERCIAL INSURANCE
AXA secures relationship with Spanish association helping young entrepreneurs
In Spain, AXA and the Confed-eración Española de Asociaciones de Jóvenes (CEAJE), a confedera-tion of associations helping young entrepreneurs, have entered into an agreement to collaborate for an initial period of one year. The deal entails a number of actions includ-ing the launch of 'Start up' as a new insurance product aimed at start-up businesses in technology-related areas and other innovative sectors. This covers risks relevant to these companies such as liability for data protection and virus attacks, plus professional indemnity. CEAJE represents more than 21,000 enter-prises run by entrepreneurs aged under 40 and is itself composed of both provincial associations and regional federations.
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Liberty Seguros secures golf-related commercial affinity deal in Spain
Also in Spain, Liberty Seguros has begun co-operating with the Aso-ciación de Directores y Gerentes de Clubes y Campos de Golf (AEGG), a trade association for golf course managers, for the pro-vision of insurance policies de-signed for this customer group and made available on advantageous terms. In addition, the insurer will also act as co-sponsor of the an-nual golf championship organised by the AEGG.
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CREDITOR INSURANCE
Nationale Suisse develops mort-gage and rent insurance for cus-tomers of homegate.ch
Nationale Suisse and homegate.ch, Switzerland’s largest online real estate agent, have reached an agree-ment for the distribution of mort-gage and rent insurance to the cus-tomers of homegate.ch. The insur-ance is aimed at tenants and mort-gage borrowers who undergo a period of unemployment or work incapacity and are unable to pay their rent or continue their mort-gage payments. The mortgages of-fered by homegate.ch are currently provided by Zürcher Kantonal-bank.
Under the terms of the insurance policy, Nationale Suisse will start making payments after a waiting period of 90 days and will also pay out a fixed sum in the case of the death of the policyholder. Nation-ale Suisse stated that while Swiss employees are normally paid be-tween 70% and 80% of their previ-ous income in the case of work
incapacity or unemployment through statutory funds, many may struggle to maintain their lifestyle as housing costs typically constitute a third of regular income.
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HEALTH INSURANCE
DKV and Zurich extend their distribution agreement for health insurance up to end 2018
In Germany, DKV (the specialist health insurance subsidiary of ERGO) and Zurich have agreed to extend their distribution agree-ment. Under the terms of the deal, Zurich will continue to distribute DKV’s health insurance products up to the end of December 2018 both through its own agents as well as through its Bonnfinanz subsidi-ary. The two companies have been
Affinion selects Transamerica Life as primary insurance part-ner in Latin America
In Latin America, Affinion has announced that that its insurance division, Affinion Benefits Group, has entered into a long-term agree-ment with Transamerica Life, a subsidiary of AEGON group, thereby making this underwriter a significant new carrier for Affin-ion's insurance services in the re-gion.
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MOTOR INSURANCE
Daimler reveals success of manufacturer-branded motor insurance underwritten by AXA
Automotive group Daimler has reported that sales of branded mo-tor insurance underwritten by AXA rose by 78% during 2012 in its re-tail business. As a result, an existing four-year strategic co-operation agreement has been extended. This has manifested itself through the partnership between the two com-panies in France, while in Malaysia and Turkey AXA has also won the mandate to underwrite insurance sold by Daimler to buyers of its cars, which include Mercedes-Benz.
In addition, Daimler and AXA work together in the field of com-
mercial insurance such as cover for manufacturing plants and vehicles in transit, and in pensions and in-surance for the Daimler workforce. The financial services arm of Daimler has a number of strategic partners in the field of insurance and also reports having secured a record number of new policies in the first half of 2013 with over 600,000 automotive-related insur-ance contracts sold worldwide.
AEGON-CNOOC initiates online distribution with Chinese shopping mall
In China, AEGON-CNOOC, a joint venture between the Nether-lands-based AEGON group and CNOOC (a Chinese oil company), has set up a partnership with Tmall.com, one of the largest online malls in the country, to pro-mote motor insurance products. The policies will be sold online and will allow customers to choose a variety of different types of cover.
Liberty Seguros starts co-operating for motorcycle cover with Argentine consumer fi-nance firms
In Argentina, Liberty Seguros has begun working with two consumer finance companies - Efectivo Sí and Tarjeta Shopping - in order to offer customers buying motorcy-cles on credit a year's worth of mo-torcycle insurance in the form of its 'Motocover' policy. Distributed via dedicated stands situated at the premises of dealers, the policy can be acquired by owners of all types of motorcycle and incorporates both liability cover and insurance in the event of theft or write-off.
According to Liberty Seguros, the Argentine market for motorcycles is growing rapidly with one regis-tered for every ten inhabitants and in the months following the launch of its 'Motocover' policy in March 2013, it acquired around 22,000 new policyholders.
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NICHE INSURANCE
DAS renews legal protection partnership with Towergate In-surance
In the UK, legal expenses insurer DAS has extended its long-standing relationship with Tower-gate Insurance in the form of a new five-year deal. This new con-tract relates to the legal expenses insurance and emergency assistance business placed by the group – whose brands include the Tower-gate Underwriting, Towergate Broking, CCV and Broker Net-work divisions – whilst also creat-ing an opportunity for DAS to ex-pand into other areas in the future if appropriate.
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PRODUCT INSURANCE / WARRANTIES
Japanese telecoms group ac-quires majority stake in Bright-star
At a cost of USD 1.26 billion, Japa-nese telecoms and internet firm SoftBank has acquired a 57% stake in Brightstar, a mobile services and hardware distributor that is also active in mobile gadget and phone
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insurance through its eSecuritel subsidiary. As part of the transac-tion, the so-called Buying & Inno-vation Group, a joint venture be-tween SoftBank, its subsidiary Sprint and Brightstar, will formally become a division of the latter. Additionally, Brightstar will be-come the exclusive provider of handsets, accessories and other services to certain SoftBank tele-coms affiliates. By the close of 2018, SoftBank’s ownership is ex-pected to accrete to 70%.
The Warranty Group extends established business relation-ship with NEW in the US...
In the US, The Warranty Group has announced the renewal of its contract with NEW, an Asurion company, by means of which it provides contractual liability insur-ance coverage, underwriting and actuarial support for several NEW protection plan programs, using its wholly-owned insurance subsidiary Virginia Surety Company. This latest contract renewal extends a business partnership that has been in place for more than 20 years. NEW partners with major retail brands to provide their customers with protection plans and device support for consumer goods in-cluding electronic appliances, office products and exercise equipment.
... and agrees new partnership with Peruvian consumer elec-tronics chain
Meanwhile, in Peru, The Warranty Group and Tiendas Efe, a leading retailer of consumer electrical products, have signed an agree-ment for the underwriting and ad-ministration of the retailer's device replacement program. Tiendas Efe is a part of Grupo Efe, a holding company comprising Tiendas Efe, Financiera Efectiva, Motocorp and Total Artefactos (La Curacao) with more than 180 stores across the country. Through this new deal, The Warranty Group will provide underwriting and administration services for the replacement of selected electronic goods including tablets, games consoles, printers and mobile phones.
CarGarantie strengthens ex-tended warranty links with three automotive brands in Central Europe...
International automotive warranty specialist CarGarantie has signed three new agreements with auto-motive manufacturer brands in Central Europe. In Austria, CarGa-rantie has been the official war-ranty partner of the Suzuki brand since 2005, offering extended war-ranties on new cars. This has now been extended to the new SX4 S-Cross model, for which an ex-
tended warranty is included with the purchase of a new vehicle, valid for 24 months or 150,000 kilome-tres from first registration. This carries on from the three-year fac-tory warranty and is included auto-matically at no extra cost to the car buyer.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, Isuzu and CarGarantie have signed a frame-work agreement in the new vehicle segment. This includes an extended warranty for the Isuzu D-Max model valid for two years after the end of the manufacturer's factory warranty. This new extended war-ranty can be bought for either 12 months / 120,000 kilometres or for 24 months / 150,000 kilometres.
Finally, in Slovenia, Mercedes-Benz and CarGarantie have signed a framework agreement for new car extended warranties, adding to ex-isting partnerships between the two firms in Austria, Bulgaria, Ger-many, Luxembourg, Hungary, Po-land, Romania and Switzerland. The extended warranty comes into force after the expiration of the factory warranty provided by the importer; it applies to all Mercedes-Benz brand passenger cars and can be bought for either 12 or 24 months.
... plus Harley-Davidson in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia
Turning to motorcycles, CarGaran-tie has increased the number of countries covered by an agreement with Harley-Davidson for extended warranties by adding Hungary, Po-land and Slovakia to its existing deals in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. This new agreement is for new and used Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles, providing warranties for up to 36 months with new motorcycles and 12 or 24 months for used ones.
Europ Assistance partners for used car warranties with Opel in Portugal
Also in the field of extended war-ranties in the automotive sector, Europ Assistance has established a distribution partnership with Opel in Portugal that aims at providing extended warranties for the manu-facturer brand's approved used car program. The program is designed for used and nearly-new cars that have an original manufacturer’s warranty and that are no older than seven years, or those with no more that 150,000 kilometres of mileage, and the new warranties can last between three months and two years.
Solid Försäkringar links with Swedish jewellery chain
In Sweden, Solid Försäkringar has announced a partnership with Adorn, a leading jewellery chain in the country with around 70 stores.
The underwriter will provide a range of insurance solutions related to the purchase of rings, necklaces, bracelets and watches with regards to risks that are not covered under standard product warranties
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TRAVEL INSURANCE
Mondial Assistance renews 20 year-old travel insurance deal with Thomas Cook...
In France, tour operator Thomas Cook has reaffirmed its long-standing relationship with Mondial Assistance (now rebranded as Al-lianz Global Assistance in several markets) for the provision of travel insurance. Under this arrangement, Thomas Cook's clients are able to easily obtain a range of travel poli-cies (including trip cancellation, winter sports and comprehensive cover) either via travel agents or online, and they can then manage their policies and any claims via a mobile app (although this is only available for iPhone users at the time of publication). At the Euro-pean level, more than 22 million customers travel with Thomas Cook every year, and the group is one of the largest foreign and do-mestic holiday travel suppliers to the French market, where its prod-ucts are available through more than 600 travel agencies across the country.
...and forges a new partnership with Groupe Pierre & Vacances – Center Parcs
Mondial Assistance has also been
named as the travel insurance part-ner for Groupe Pierre & Vacances – Center Parcs, which operates a wide range of self-catering com-plexes, holiday villages and family resorts across Europe, with a strong emphasis on activity holi-days designed for families. The group was founded in 1967 and welcomes around 7.5 million cli-ents to more than 50,000 apart-ments and houses across Europe each year, through brands such as Pierre & Vacances, Maeva, Center Parcs, Aparthotels Adagio and Sunparks. The travel insurance of-fering will be tailored towards cover for families, and can be adapted to take account of the par-ticular activities being undertaken during the stay, such as winter sports.
HanseMerkur enters into travel insurance partnership with Ger-man cruise specialist
In Germany, HanseMerkur has announced a new long-term agree-ment with nicko tours, a leading travel operator, to distribute its travel health and travel inconven-ience insurance. nicko tours spe-cialises in organising cruises for senior citizens and expected reve-nues of around EUR 116 million in 2013.
CIBC upgrades travel insurance associated with Aventura loyalty program
Canadian bank CIBC has an-nounced a series of enhancements to its Aventura loyalty program, making it easier for cardholders to earn points and turn them into flights, and providing trip cancella-
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tion cover to sit alongside the pro-gram's existing trip interruption and travel medical insurance bene-fits, all of which are underwritten by RSA. The new scheme will al-low consumers to redeem their Aventura points for flights with any airline, to access every seat on the plane, and also to pay for flight taxes and fees with their points. The program also features a special bonus of up to 30,000 points for new members, and short-haul flights will be available for as little as 10,000 points.
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GENERAL
The Hartford secures three-year extension of AARP motor and household insurance program
In the US, The Hartford has an-nounced an extension of its agree-
ment with AARP (standing origi-nally for the American Association of Retired Persons) to offer house-hold and motor insurance products to the organisation's members. With the three-year extension, The Hartford's relationship with AARP now runs through to the end of 2022. This marks the fourth exten-sion since the program's inception in 1984. Marketed as The AARP Automobile and Homeowners In-surance Program, The Hartford offers household and motor cover to AARP members, as well as other personal insurance products such as personal umbrella insurance, and coverage for motor homes and off-road recreational vehicles.
Swedish insurer prolongs agree-ment with affinity insurance in-termediary
In Sweden, Moderna Försäkringar, a subsidiary of Tryg, has extended its partnership with Akademiker-
försäkring, an affinity insurance i n t e r m e d i a r y o w n e d b y Akademikertjänst, a member ser-vices company that is itself owned by six trade unions for university graduates, including those serving engineers and pharmacists. In fact, this relationship has been in place since 2003 and the latest extension means that it will last at least until 2016.
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Bancassurance News
LIFE INSURANCE
MetLife enters into bancassur-ance joint venture with Viet-namese bank
In Vietnam, MetLife has entered into an agreement with Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to establish a new
life insurance joint venture that will become operational in 2014. This initiative follows the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was previously signed by the parties in July 2013 and is intended to deliver on a key component of MetLife’s strategy: expanding its presence in emerging markets. At the same time, the joint venture also assists with BIDV’s further participation in the life insurance market. Met-Life will own a 60% stake in the company with BIDV and BIC holding the remaining 40% be-tween them. With an initial focus on life and health insurance prod-ucts, an exclusive bancassurance distribution agreement has also been put in place between the new joint venture company and BIDV, which has over 600 outlets in Viet-nam.
BNP Paribas Cardif joint ven-ture in Vietnam wins new ban-cassurance relationship
Also in Vietnam, Vietcombank Cardif Life Insurance, a joint ven-ture of BNP Paribas Cardif and Vietcombank, has signed a bancas-surance partnership agreement with Saigon Commercial Bank for the distribution of savings and protec-tion insurance products through the bank's network of more than 230 branches. The first product will be a deposit protection policy to insure the bank's clients against death and disability. Saigon Com-mercial Bank ranks among the top five joint-stock commercial banks in Vietnam.
JC Flowers takes control of Ital-ian bancassurance company
In Italy, Aviva has disclosed that it has reached a conditional agree-
ment to sell its entire 39% stake in Eurovita Assicurazioni to JC Flow-ers, a private equity firm, for a con-sideration of EUR 33 million. JC Flowers will also acquire the resid-ual 61% share of this company from Banco Popolare, the other co-owner. Eurovita is a life insurer which distributes guaranteed sav-ings products through a network of local and regional Italian banks, contributing GBP 6 million to Aviva’s profit after minorities in the first half of 2013. According to Aviva, the sale represents further progress in its strategy to focus its Italian business on more profitable, capital-efficient products.
BNP Paribas Cardif extends partnership with Hachijuni Bank to cancer insurance in Ja-pan...
In Japan, BNP Paribas Cardif has extended its distribution partner-
ship with Hachijuni Bank, a local bank in the Nagano Prefecture. As a result, the bank will distribute the underwriter’s cancer insurance product and it will also be possible for mortgage customers to take out cover for this risk.
... while Manulife ties with Nikko Securities for unit-linked annuity insurance in the same country
Also in Japan, Manulife has an-nounced that it will commence sales nationwide of a new unit-linked annuity insurance product known as 'ManuDream' through Nikko Securities. In advance of the commencement of sales, Nikko Securities will launch a campaign to introduce and explain the product’s features to customers.
PKO Bank Polski acquires Nor-dea's Polish operations includ-ing a captive life insurer
In Poland, in order to meet its fi-nancial targets and in line with its strategy to concentrate on its core markets, Nordea has decided to divest its local banking, finance and
life insurance operations, namely Nordea Bank Polska, Nordea Fi-nance Polska and Nordea Polska Towarzystwo Ubezpieczen na Zy-cie, to PKO Bank Polski for EUR 694 million. It is expected that PKO Bank Polski will use its newly-acquired life insurance company as the basis for a new bancassurance strategy that includes an increased use of captive underwriters.
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MOTOR INSURANCE
Bank of Ireland bolsters motor insurance proposition in part-nership with RSA
In Ireland, the insurance broking arm of Bank of Ireland has launched two new motor insurance products, known as 'Popular' and 'Prestige', which offer a discount of 20% for existing customers and a further 5% for clients who also have household cover through the bank. The new motor insurance policies are being underwritten by RSA and include monthly payment plans with no fees or charges, breakdown assistance in Ireland,
third party and unlimited audio cover plus cover within EU coun-tries for up to 45 days. Moreover, the higher value 'Prestige' product incorporates no claims discount protection, windscreen cover, new car replacement, personal belong-ings cover, replacement locks, car hire and personal protection for death and injury.
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GENERAL
Achmea extends bancassurance relationship with Rabobank to Australia
Netherlands-based insurance com-pany Achmea has extended its ban-cassurance partnership with Rabo-bank to a new overseas territory. Specifically, Achmea has acquired a licence from the relevant regulatory authorities to sell insurance in Aus-tralia under the Achmea Australia brand name. Its Australian branch will focus on offering insurance for the agricultural sector to be sold predominantly to the clients of Rabobank in Australia.
Moderna Försäkringar estab-lishes new non-life bancassur-ance deal with Danske Bank
In Sweden, Moderna Försäkringar has entered into a strategic partner-ship with Danske Bank for the sale of non-life insurance products. The agreement will be launched as of spring 2014 and is scheduled to last for at least three years. In addition to Moderna’s core non-life insur-ance products, Danske Bank’s cus-tomers will also have the opportu-nity to take out cover for classic cars, motorcycles and boats through the underwriter's subsidi-ary brands Atlantica and Bilsport & MC.
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Affinity Banking News
AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE
Geely Automobile and BNP Paribas Personal Finance col-laborate in Chinese automotive finance
In China, Geely Automobile and BNP Paribas Personal Finance have entered into an agreement to establish a jointly-owned company for automotive finance. The regis-tered capital of the company will be RMB 900 million (about EUR 108 million) of which RMB 720 million (EUR 86.4 million) will be provided by Geely Automobile in return for an 80% stake in the company. BNP Paribas Personal Finance will provide RMB 180 mil-lion (EUR 21.6 million) for the remaining stake. This agreement is subject to approval by the relevant authorities. The company will pro-
vide financial products and services in China including wholesale fi-nance for car dealers for the pur-chase of vehicles and operating facilities as well as retail finance for end-customers.
GM buys back former captive business from Ally Financial in Brazil...
With the purchase of Ally Finan-cial's Brazilian operations for ap-proximately USD 611 million, automotive group GM continues to buy back some of the automo-tive finance operations that it was forced to sell as a part of its re-structuring in 2008. The sale of Ally's international operations is now around 90% complete, with approximately USD 8.3 billion hav-ing been raised from the process so far, leaving Ally focused on the US market.
...while Ally Financial extends US operations by working with BraunAbility
Meanwhile, in the US, Ally Finan-cial has become a finance provider for BraunAbility, a leading manu-facturer of wheelchair accessible vehicles and wheelchair lifts world-wide. This enables it to receive fi-nance applications from Brau-nAbility’s 200 distributors across the US.
Capital One wins consumer fi-nance mandate with power sports product manufacturer
In the US, Capital One has signed a three-year agreement with Bombar-dier Recreational Products (BRP) for the provision of consumer fi-
nance plans to BRP's customers. BRP manufactures and distributes various types of power sports product, including Ski Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Sea-Doo wa-tercraft, Can-Am all-terrain vehi-cles, side-by-side vehicles and Spy-der roadsters. The new deal relates to the provision of revolving fi-nance contracts on such products when sold through BRP dealers across the US, and the financing can also be used to pay for both accessories and vehicle servicing.
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BANK-TO-BANK PARTNER-SHIPS
Scotiabank and Bank of Beijing collaborate to make China-to-Canada migration easier
Scotiabank has reached an agree-ment with the Bank of Beijing to help Chinese immigrants, students and foreign workers moving to Canada to begin their financial ser-vices transition before leaving China. Known as the Scotiabank StartRight program, this initiative means that individuals in these categories are able to open a bank account and apply for a credit card with Scotiabank through approxi-mately 20 participating Bank of Beijing branches in China. Once in Canada, customers can then visit their local Scotiabank branch to activate their account, receive their credit card and take advantage of additional benefits included in the StartRight program. Note that Sco-tiabank already has similar arrange-ments with Bank of Xi'an and China Everbright Bank, meaning that this program is already avail-
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able at more than 200 bank branches in 44 cities across China.
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CO-BRANDED CARDS
Western Union distributes pre-paid card in Italy through 15,000 lottery operator outlets
In Italy, Western Union has joined forces with MasterCard and Lot-tomatica, a gaming company and lottery operator, to launch the My WU reloadable prepaid card. Lot-tomatica is the first company in Europe to join the Global Share platform which enables Western Union to introduce new stored-value solutions in markets around the world by joining forces with local companies.
The My WU prepaid card is de-signed to serve the more than 4 million registered migrant workers in Italy who need convenient ac-cess to financial services and is available at around 15,000 Lot-tomatica locations throughout the country and online via Western Union's own website. Customers can also reload their prepaid cards at more than 22,000 locations and over 10,000 ATMs across Italy.
In effect, the card means that cus-tomers in Italy who do not have bank accounts can send money transfers, receive direct deposits from their employers and make retail purchases in both shops and online outlets that accept Master-Card as well as withdraw money from ATMs across the country. Furthermore, cardholders are also able to fund Western Union money
transfer transactions using their cards at Lottomatica locations where the service is available while also benefiting Western Union’s own consumer loyalty program.
Wirecard Card Solutions links with cadooz for co-branded pre-paid cards
Wirecard Card Solutions and cadooz, a supplier of vouchers, rewards and incentives which is owned by Euronet Worldwide, have issued two prepaid cards (the cadoozCard and cadoozCard plus), both operating on Maestro's net-work. The cards are designed and marketed as a form of employee reward or benefit, and differ in the range of retailers at which they may be redeemed; the cadooz Card may be used at selected retailers while the cadoozCard plus may be used at any merchant accepting Maestro cards. Moreover, participating companies have the option to co-brand either version. The issuance of both cards has started in Ger-many and the program will be ex-panded swiftly to additional Euro-pean countries.
Capital One refreshes co-branded and loyalty proposi-tions with GM
In the US, in partnership with MasterCard, Capital One and Gen-eral Motors (GM) have announced a multi-year extension to their ex-isting co-branded credit card pro-gram, plus the launch of a new automotive rewards product linked to the GM Card. This new proposi-tion offers consumers 5% of earn-ings on their first USD 5,000 worth of net card purchases each year,
plus 2% on all other purchases. The card carries no annual fee and features no limits on the rewards that consumers can accumulate and redeem towards the purchase or leasing of a new Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet or GMC vehicle. Fur-thermore, rewards do not expire over time. Since its launch in 1992, earnings from GM Card loyalty schemes have been redeemed to-wards the purchase of almost 7 million new GM cars, trucks, SUVs and crossovers. The new proposi-tion will also give holders access to a number of World Elite Master-Card benefits, including trip cancel-lation cover.
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CONSUMER FINANCE
Santander acquires equity stake in Iberian retail group's finan-cial services unit
In the Iberian peninsula, Santander and department store chain El Corte Inglés have reached an agree-ment whereby the banking group's consumer finance company will acquire a 51% equity stake in the retailer's formerly captive finance arm, Financiera El Corte Inglés, subject to approval from the rele-vant regulatory authorities in Por-tugal and Spain. Through a due diligence exercise carried out on the basis of the financial statements of Financiera El Corte Inglés as at the end of July 2013, the company was accorded an enterprise value of EUR 415 million. By means of the transaction, Santander strengthens its position in the European market for point-of-sale finance.
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CaixaBank ties with Telefónica for Spanish consumer finance joint venture
Also in Spain, Telefónica Con-sumer Finance has been unveiled as a joint venture between Tele-fónica and CaixaBank. This repre-sents an extension of an agreement first made in 2012 between the two companies, under which Caixa-Bank, via its FinConsum subsidi-ary, allowed Movistar customers to pay for mobile devices in instal-ments over 24 months. The financ-ing process is set to be especially streamlined for CaixaBank's 13.8 million customers in Spain, who will only need to provide their pay-ment card to secure financing. Telefónica Consumer Finance is expected to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2014.
Bank of Nanjing and BNP Paribas Personal Finance tighten consumer credit rela-tionship
In China, BNP Paribas Personal Finance has strengthened its rela-tionship with Bank of Nanjing through a co-operation agreement focused on consumer credit. The two partners have been working together since October 2005, and in June 2010 they created a con-sumer finance and credit card cen-tre (known as the CFCCC) within the bank. Development of this cen-tre is overseen by a regional divi-sion of BNP Paribas Personal Fi-nance which brings together its international consumer credit ex-pertise and its alliances in China, Morocco, Poland, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Fiditalia creates partnership with provider of 'green' energy solutions
In Italy, Fiditalia (a consumer fi-nance company belonging to So-ciété Générale) has tied with Joan-nes for the provision of finance related to the acquisition of the latter company's 'green' energy so-lutions which include heating sys-tems and solar panels. Customers investing in these solutions are cur-rently able to benefit from tax breaks.
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COMMERCIAL BANKING
BNL provides finance to organi-sation working on behalf of Ital-ian pharmacies
In Italy, BNL and Farmafidi, a not-for-profit organisation that special-ises in arranging finance on behalf of pharmacies, have established an agreement by means of which the former, which is owned by BNP Paribas, will provide the latter with a fund of EUR 8 million. This will be used to support the activity of around 16,000 pharmacies that be-long to Farmafidi.
Bradesco ties with Brazilian trade association representing franchise-based businesses
In Brazil, banking group Bradesco has committed a fund worth around USD 300 million to the Associação Brasileira de Franchis-ing (ABF), a trade association rep-resenting franchise-based busi-nesses. In addition to the provision of micro-credits from this fund,
Bradesco is also providing other financial products including over-drafts to cover seasonal payment flows and the government-sponsored BNDES credit card which incorporates finance for up to 48 months.
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INTERNATIONAL / DOMES-TIC REMITTANCES
Western Union renews money transfer contract with La Ban-que Postale
In France, payments specialist Western Union has renewed its long-term partnership with La Ban-que Postale, the banking subsidiary of La Poste group, the main opera-tor of postal services in the coun-try. Through this contract renewal, Western Union will continue to provide money transfer and remit-tance services through the branches of La Banque Postale throughout France, an arrangement that has been in place since 1996.
MoneyGram gains international remittance mandate with Deniz-bank
In a comparable deal in Turkey, Denizbank (a subsidiary of Sber-bank) has entered into a relation-ship with MoneyGram for the pro-vision of money transfer services. Specifically, the bank will offer MoneyGram's services in this field.
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MOBILE / ONLINE PAY-MENTS
M a s t e r C a r d a n d N T T DOCOMO combine brands for mobile credit payment system
MasterCard and telecoms group NTT DOCOMO have announced a deal to launch payment services carrying the former company's Pay-Pass brand and the latter's iD logo via DOCOMO's mobile credit pay-ment system. This initiative opens up some 1.2 million MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations in over 50 countries to iD users from the start of February 2014. Specifi-cally, the services will be available to DOCOMO subscribers using smartphones equipped with a con-tactless chip for mobile phones with wallet functions (so-called Osaifu-Keitai) via NFC technology. Existing iD users will be able to simply tap their smartphone over a reader device to make payments at MasterCard PayPass affiliate mer-chants outside Japan using either local currency or yen, eliminating the need to carry cash in an unfa-miliar local currency.
CommBank rolls out mobile payments solution with Master-Card and Samsung
In Australia, CommBank has joined forces with MasterCard and Samsung Electronics to offer cus-tomers PayPass payment capabili-ties via NFC-enabled Samsung Galaxy S4 devices. According to the bank, this offering has been made possible by a convergence of hardware, software and mobile banking technologies which lever-ages MasterCard's PayPass technol-
ogy and Samsung’s global NFC payment infrastructure which proc-esses transactions using the CommBank app on Samsung GALAXY S4 smartphones sold in Australia. The outcome is that CommBank customers with a Sam-sung GALAXY S4 smartphone are able to make secure 'Tap & Pay' contactless payments at more than 220,000 PayPass contactless termi-nals across Australia and 1.6 mil-lion merchant locations worldwide.
NBE, EBC, Fawry and Master-Card link for new mobile pay-ment solution in Egypt
In Egypt, in the same of the intro-duction of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) and telecoms group Fawry have announced the launch in partnership with Master-Card of 'Phone Cash' as a new mo-bile payment solution. This product is available to both banked and unbanked customers across Egypt who are able to use the service to send money, pay phone bills, load credit to prepaid phones, make donations and reserve airline tickets among the wide range of services offered by Fawry. It can also be used to pay for goods and services at several merchants in Egypt and enables users to make e-commerce transactions around the world.
In fact, the 'Phone Cash' service operates independently from the network of any specific mobile company, making NBE the first bank in Egypt or the wider Middle East to provide such a facility. Consumers can download the 'Phone Cash' application on any mobile handset as an e-wallet that
can be recharged easily with money from any Fawry outlet. NBE cus-tomers can also link their Master-Card cards to this application to enable money transfers from their bank accounts to recharge the bal-ance of their e-wallets.
Orange Cash launched by Or-ange with Visa Europe and Wirecard Card Solutions
In France, Visa Europe has joined forces with Orange and Wirecard Card Solutions to launch Orange Cash with the objective of acceler-ating awareness and everyday usage of mobile contactless payments in France. The first prepaid product of its type to be launched in France, Orange Cash will enable Orange customers who have an NFC-enabled smartphone to pay for goods and services using their device. This is being facilitated by the fact that the number of con-tactless payment terminals in France increased by 50% in the six months to September 2013 alone. Orange customers will be able to download the Orange Cash appli-cation, load funds onto their Or-ange Cash prepaid account with their debit, credit or prepaid card, and start making contactless pur-chases right away. Orange Cash will be made available to Orange cus-tomers in Strasbourg and Caen in early 2014, ahead of a nationwide roll-out in the second quarter of the year.
Boku unveils new partnerships with Deezer and PaymentPin
Mobile payments firm Boku has announced two separate agree-ments. In Germany, customers of
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streaming music service Deezer will be able to subscribe to this service and pay their bills using only their mobile numbers, with the charges attached directly to their monthly mobile bill. Boku has also an-nounced a partnership with Pay-mentPin, a Montreal-based m-commerce software provider spe-cialising in micro-payments and mobile payment processing.
CaixaBank launches new mobile payment program with Visa and trio of telecoms groups
In Spain, banking group CaixaBank has announced the launch of a new mobile payment scheme with part-ners including Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone as well as Visa Europe. The program will allow customers to store all their cards on their mobile devices, and use them to make purchases at retailers and other merchants fitted with com-patible contactless POS terminals anywhere in the world. The three mobile networks involved repre-sent 80% of mobile phone con-sumers in Spain and the deal will allow customers to link any card taken out through CaixaBank to their handset. The program is thought to be the largest in Europe involving mobile-based NFC pay-ments.
Monitise takes full ownership of Asia-Pacific joint venture and announces other agreements
Mobile payment firm Monitise has announced an agreement to acquire full ownership of Monitise Asia Pacific, its joint venture with Hong Kong-based investment group First Eastern. Following the transaction,
Monitise will assume complete con-trol of Monitise Asia Pacific’s 49% stake in its Indonesian joint venture with PT Astra Graphia Information Technology.
Meanwhile, in the US, Monitise and U.S. Bank have announced an agreement which will see Monitise providing support for a new mobile payment scheme offered by the bank on behalf of selected mer-chants which will allow secure pur-chases and payments to be made via mobile handsets.
Separately, Monitise has announced that it has continued to expand its Monitise Commerce Network, which offers mobile wallet func-tionality. New partners in the net-work include Rewards Now, offer-ing loyalty and rewards programs, and Acculynk, which facilitates se-cure mobile transactions. These partnerships follow other deals with Blackhawk Network for mo-bile gift card purchasing, and with e-commerce provider Venda.
Wells Fargo joins Isis mobile payment network
In the US, Wells Fargo has an-nounced that it will become an ac-tive participant in the Isis m-commerce joint venture created by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless. In the first phase of the agreement, consumers with Wells Fargo Visa credit cards will be able to load these into the Isis mobile wallet which allows us-ers to make secure payments, to redeem coupons and to collect and redeem loyalty benefits through their mobile handset.
Vodafone works with Intesa Sanpaolo and Setefi for contact-less POS solutions in Italy
In Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo, Setefi (a company specialising in electronic payments) and Vodafone have re-vealed an initiative to boost accep-tance of contactless payments. The POS proposition is composed of a new generation smartphone or Vo-dafone tablet plus Setefi's so-called 'Move and Pay' secure payment solution. Contactless payments are believed to be growing rapidly in Italy but penetration of POS termi-nals that can accept such payments lies at around 26% of merchants and is, therefore, well below the average of about 50% for other major European countries. How-ever, a new law that comes into force in January 2014 (known as 'Decreto Sviluppo bis') will provide a significant boost to the sector as all companies of a certain size will be compelled to offer electronic payment options to their custom-ers.
Bradesco and Claro target un-banked consumers in Brazil with mobile wallet
In Brazil, MPO (a mobile payment joint venture of banking group Bradesco and mobile operator Claro), has launched My Money Claro, a pilot mobile payment pro-ject that will initially be available in the cities of Belford Roxo, Sao Joao de Meriti, and Duque de Cax-ias, in Rio de Janeiro, as well as in Goiania. In effect, this is a prepaid mobile wallet that allows users to pay bills and make purchases as well as to make transfers and cash withdrawals. According to Claro,
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the focus of the product is the ap-proximately 48% of Brazil's popu-lation with no bank account.
TD Bank and PC Financial part-ner to create Canada's first open mobile wallet
In Canada, President's Choice Fi-nancial (which is the financial ser-vices division of the Loblaw Com-panies retail group) and TD Bank have announced the creation of Ugo, an open mobile wallet plat-form that will combine multiple payment and loyalty programs in one secure mobile solution. As part of this collaboration, Loblaw Com-panies has signed up as the plat-form's first retail partner and also brings its own PC Plus loyalty pro-gram into the wallet.
Scheduled to become available in the second quarter of 2014, Ugo will allow users to replace cards from their physical wallet with a simple and secure mobile payment method that automatically links to their loyalty programs. Consumers will be able to both pay and earn and redeem loyalty points in a sin-gle tap using their smartphones, thereby offering the kind of func-tionality that could ultimately re-place the need to carry a physical wallet.
Ugo will initially allow customers to load their TD Visa, PC Financial MasterCard and PC Plus cards into the wallet, and PC points can be redeemed at Loblaw and other re-lated store locations. The plan is then to add more partners, plus both debit and gift card capabilities and loyalty programs in future. The platform will make use of existing
NFC technology to process pay-ments and will initially be available for use on Blackberry and Android NFC-enabled devices.
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PAYMENT CARD ACCEP-TANCE AND ISSUANCE
American Express links with Equity Bank for card issuance in trio of African countries...
In three African countries – Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda – Equity Bank has announced a partnership agreement with American Express through which it will act as an ex-clusive issuer of American Express card products. These will be launched during the first half of 2014, firstly in Kenya and subse-quently in Tanzania and Uganda, subject to regulatory approval. Un-der the terms of the agreement, Equity Bank will be responsible for all elements related to issuing the cards, including designing the product features, owning the cus-tomer relationships and providing billing and credit management. In addition, as an American Express merchant acquirer, Equity Bank will support the expansion of the American Express network by de-veloping and maintaining new mer-chant relationships in the three countries. The deal constitutes the first time that American Express card products are being made avail-able in these territories.
... and with U.S. Bank in the US market
In the US, American Express has disclosed that U.S. Bank will start
offering credit cards accepted on the American Express network in 2014. In fact, the two partners have already begun working together to design programs for the bank’s customers with the first products likely to become available by au-tumn 2014. U.S. Bank is a signifi-cant card issuer in the US market with a substantial portfolio of co-branded cards in circulation. In addition, it also provides white-label card issuing services to many banks and credit unions across the country through its Elan subsidiary.
UnionPay reveals raft of agree-ments for card issuance and ac-ceptance in multiple countries
Chinese payments firm UnionPay has revealed several agreements covering the issuance and accep-tance of its cards in multiple re-gions worldwide.
First, it has announced the launch of a dual-currency payment card in Hong Kong in co-operation with the local branch of Bank of China and Canton Fair E-commerce. The card can optionally settle payment in RMB or HKD with no currency conversion charges. Meanwhile, the Taiwan Cooperative Bank (TCB) has announced that UnionPay cards with chip authentication (chip and pin) will be accepted at its POS terminals.
UnionPay has also revealed three separate announcements for the promotion of UnionPay payment card acceptance among tourism operators. The announcements, covering Australia, the Seychelles and the UK, were concluded with Tourism Western Australia, the
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Seychelles Tourism Board and the British Tourist Authority, respec-tively. Moreover, in Italy, UniCredit has agreed to allow all of its POS terminals to accept UnionPay cards.
Finally, in China itself, UnionPay has launched a new travel card in conjunction with the China Na-tional Tourism Administration, which will extend benefits to card-holders when visiting selected tour-ist and retail destinations through-out south-east Asia.
JCB enters into card-issuing deals in Italy and Vietnam
Japan-based payment firm JCB has announced agreements for the ex-pansion of card issuance in two countries. In Vietnam, JCB and Eximbank are collaborating for a new JCB-branded payment card to be issued by the bank. Meanwhile, in Italy, JCB has announced an agreement to promote co-branded cards with Italian debit scheme Consorzio, which operates both the Bancomat and PagoBancomat networks, thereby expanding the issuance of JCB cards in the coun-try.
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RETAILER BANKING
Barclays ties with Asda to trial in-store branches
In the UK, Barclays has revealed a trial partnership with supermarket chain Asda to offer everyday bank-ing services through bank branches open seven days a week inside se-lected stores from 2014. Four pilot
bank branches will open from Feb-ruary 2014 offering customers longer opening hours and more convenient parking.
The new branches will be available to all new and existing Barclays customers and the bank's own staff will be on hand to support custom-ers during traditional opening hours. Outside of these hours, the new branches will host new tech-nology to allow customers to carry out regular transactions such as paying in cash and cheques, paying bills, and withdrawing and transfer-ring money.
The first such branch will be opened in Asda's Birchwood store in Cheshire in February 2014; store trading hours there are from 8.00 to 22.00, six days a week, and from 10.30 to 16.30 on Sundays. A fur-ther three branches will open sub-sequently at Asda stores in Pudsey in West Yorkshire, North Watford in Hertfordshire and Broadstairs in Kent, with the aim of extending the pilot to eight branches within a few months.
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RETAILER CARDS
Nakumatt Holdings introduces prepaid MasterCard product in conjunction with two banks
Nakumatt Holdings, a prominent retailing group in East Africa with a total of 40 stores, has unveiled a new contactless prepaid Master-Card card in partnership with Dia-mond Trust Bank and Kenya Com-mercial Bank. This new multi-currency card replaces the previous
Nakumatt Cybercash loyalty smart card and provides a range of bene-fits and security features. For ex-ample, existing smart card custom-ers continue accumulating loyalty points for all purchases made across Nakumatt outlets.
Moreover, those with the new card will also earn loyalty points for pur-chases made with the card at any of over 35.9 million acceptance points, including 2.1 million ATMs, where MasterCard is accepted worldwide.
According to Nakumatt, the initia-tive is part of a wider strategy to provide convenient retail financial solutions such as utility bill settle-ments , insurance products , cashback, foreign exchange and money transfer services at Naku-matt tills as customers pay for their shopping in both regular and 24-hour stores. Over 1 million cus-tomers already held the pre-existing loyalty smart card and it is expected that many more will take out the new prepaid card.
Citi Retail Services extends con-sumer finance relationship with both RadioShack...
Citi Retail Services has announced a long-term agreement to extend a consumer credit relationship with consumer electronics retail special-ist RadioShack that has already been in place for nearly 30 years. By means of the agreement, Citi will continue to provide service-oriented solutions and analytics in support of RadioShack’s targets for growth while the retail brand's cus-tomers will continue to enjoy com-prehensive financing programs.
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tomers will continue to enjoy com-prehensive financing programs. Moreover, RadioShack will re-launch its private label credit card in the first quarter of 2014 with new branding. This will be one ele-ment of a brand refresh that will include revised product offerings, changed store layouts and the planned opening of over 100 new stores.
... and Staples
Citi Retail Services has also con-cluded a comparable agreement with Staples, the leading office products retailer, having worked with it already for around 22 years. Through this deal, Citi Retail Ser-vices will continue to provide proc-essing services and customer ser-vice support for all three of the chain's private-label credit card programs, which meet the separate needs of both consumers and busi-ness customers.
GE Capital Retail Bank creates private-label credit card for mat-tress retailer...
Also in the field of consumer fi-nance in the US, GE Capital Retail Bank and Sleep Train, a leading retailer of mattresses, have entered into a multi-year agreement to pro-vide a branded private-label credit card program. Specifically, the Sleep Train credit card is being made available for purchases at more than 100 retail locations across California with application possible both at the point of pur-chase and via the retailer's www.sleeptrain.com web store. Cardholders can also access and manage their account with a suite
of digital tools including an online consumer centre and mService, a mobile servicing platform available on Android, Blackberry, iOS and Windows devices.
... and extends relationship in the same field with JCPenney
In addition, GE Capital Retail Bank has revealed the extension of its private-label and dual card credit program with nationwide retail chain JCPenney through to Febru-ary 2020. First introduced in 1999, the credit card program is available for purchases at any of nearly 1,100 JCPenney stores across the US and Puerto Rico, as well as via the www.jcpenney.com website. Bene-fits to cardholders include dis-counts of up to 20% on their first day of using the card to make pur-chases, the opportunity to earn the retailer's 'rewards certificates' and the ability to pay on credit at any store or online.
Wirecard Bank to manage new gift card scheme for Lidl in Ger-many
In Germany, supermarket brand Lidl has commissioned Wirecard Bank to issue and process its new range of gift cards. The cards, avail-able in various denominations, will be available to purchase or redeem at more than 3,300 Lidl branches throughout the country and also via the company's website. The two partners have collaborated for online payment processing since 2008.
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