AFFINITY INSURANCE

BANCASSURANCE

AFFINITY BANKING

Global Affinity

Finance Club

Finaccord’s newsletter about affinity financial services worldwide

Welcome back to your Club! Welcome back after the summer break. This latest edition of the Global Affinity Finance Club encapsulates over 70 news items drawn from a very wide spread of geographies. Merger and acquisition activity with ramifications for particular dis-tribution partnerships has loomed large in recent months. Notable deals in this respect include Assurant’s acquisition of Lifestyle Ser-vices Group in the UK, the move by Citi Retail Services in the US to purchase the Best Buy retailer card portfolio from Capital One, Itaú Unibanco's agreement to buy a 51% equity holding in the re-tailer financial services operations of Cencosud in Argentina and Chile, Santam’s purchase of Travel Insurance Consultants in South Africa, Sberbank’s acquisition of a 75% stake in Yandex.Money in Russia, and TD Bank’s deal to buy a tranche of CIBC’s portfolio of Aeroplan co-branded cards in Canada. Another interesting alliance has been that forged between AIA Group and South Africa’s Discovery Holdings for the introduction to the Asia-Pacific region by the former of the wellness-based life insurance model of the latter. Moreover, as in most editions, payment companies JCB, Master-Card, Monitise, UnionPay, Visa and Western Union are prominent at the international level, especially in the fast-moving world of mo-bile and online payments. With best regards, Alan Leach

Director aleach@finaccord.com

For our published reports, news and more please visit

www.finaccord.com

2013 SUMMER

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Affinity Insurance News 4

ASSISTANCE 4

QDOS selects Aria Assistance for road

assistance 4

RAC secures contract with major used

car dealer network 4

Tranquilidade and Europ Assistance

combine to target Portuguese moving

abroad 4

HomeServe to distribute cover through

two more US water utilities 4

COMMERCIAL INSURANCE 4

Beazley offers insurance with associa-

tion of event organisers in Australia 4

Euler Hermes introduces trade credit

insurance for HSBC customers in Singa-

pore... 4

... and teams up with French agency for

international business development 5

HEALTH INSURANCE 5

Aflac and Japan Post extend cancer in-

surance distribution agreement 5

LIFE INSURANCE 6

AIA and Discovery Holdings combine

for wellness-based life insurance model

6

MOTOR INSURANCE 6

Allianz and Volvo enter into car insur-

ance partnership in France 6

Schweizerische Mobiliar and Migros

collaborate for car sharing platform 6

NICHE INSURANCE 6

UK insurance providers launch excess

protection product through automotive

media affinities 6

Achmea works with Dutch trade union

for legal protection service 6

Markerstudy Group subsidiary wins pet

insurance deal with Capita Insurance

Distribution 6

British Rowing launches partnership

with Elite Rowing Insurance 6

Allianz develops innovative student

insurance product for Spanish university

network 7

PRODUCT INSURANCE / WAR-

RANTIES 7

Domestic & General signs up Samsung

and Smeg as partners in the UK 7

CarGarantie secures four new extended

warranty deals in Europe 7

The Warranty Group earns extended

warranty contract with Argentine retail

group 7

Assurant buys UK mobile gadget and

phone insurance specialist LSG... 7

... and rolls out premium handset pro-

tection services for T-Mobile in the US

7

Frontier Secure and Asurion launch no-

contract electronic equipment protec-

tion plans 7

Solid Försäkringar secures affinity insur-

ance contract with jewellery chain 8

Middlesea Assist wins mandate with

Malta's largest automotive dealer

group... 8

... and enters into partnership with Sam-

sung for extended warranties 8

TRAVEL INSURANCE 8

MAPFRE Assistance earns travel assis-

tance deal with fuel retailing group 8

RBC Insurance begins transitioning

travel agency insurance business to

Manulife Financial 9

Santam acquires leading South African

travel insurance specialist 9

GENERAL 9

Direct Line and Münchener Verein Ver-

sicherungsgruppe enter into reciprocal

marketing agreement 9

Bancassurance News 9

ASSISTANCE 9

Europ Assistance to provide travel

cover for Spanish bank's cardholders 9

LIFE INSURANCE 9

BNP Paribas Cardif joint venture signs

distribution deal with Vietnamese bank

9

Dai-Ichi Life acquires stake in Indone-

sian bancassurer 9

GENERAL 10

Aviva secures distribution through Pol-

ish bank network up to the end of 2033

10

RBS divests further equity stake in Di-

rect Line Insurance Group 10

Table of contents

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Affinity Banking News 10

AFFINITY ACCOUNTS 10

American Express ties Serve prepaid

account to League of Legends game 10

AFFINITY CARDS 10

Equity Bank introduces prepaid affin-

ity card with Kenyan university 10

AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE 11

Sberbank increases equity stake in con-

sumer finance joint venture 11

Crédit Agricole and Fiat extend joint

venture through to end of 2021 11

CO-BRANDED CARDS 11

MasterCard rolls out new frequent

flyer membership card with Qantas 11

Bank of America renews co-branding

partnership with Virgin Atlantic... 11

... and also launches a new co-branded

card for Royal Caribbean 11

HDFC Bank and Jet Airways launch

co-branded debit card in India 12

TD Bank to acquire portion of Aero-

plan Visa card portfolio from CIBC 12

Orange and Visa collaborate for co-

branded prepaid card in Botswana 12

Western Union and Commercial Bank

of Dubai introduce prepaid payroll

card in UAE 12

CONSUMER FINANCE 12

Credit Europe Bank finalises Russian

joint venture with IKANO Group 12

Citibank links with Carrefour for con-

sumer finance initiative in Bahrain 12

BNL finances university fees of Venice

-based university 13

INTERNATIONAL / DOMESTIC

REMITTANCES 13

Western Union secures Chinese ties

with ICBC and UnionPay 13

MOBILE / ONLINE PAYMENTS

13

Citibank enters into enhanced mobile

payment partnership with Taiwanese

cinema operator 13

MasterCard launches mobile payment

solution with trio of Egyptian partners

13

Etisalat ties with MasterCard and NBE

for launch of new mobile wallet 14

Italian partners join forces for mobile

payments trial 14

ICICI Bank works with Movida for

mobile payment service 14

Telefónica appoints Monitise as an

official mobile payments partner 14

Monitise strikes up mobile payment

deals in Canada, the UK and the US 14

Western Union concludes several new

mobile payment partnerships 15

Sberbank acquires majority stake in

Yandex online payments business 15

PAYMENT CARD ACCEPTANCE

AND ISSUANCE 15

American Express enters into card

distribution partnership with Wells

Fargo 15

Citibank, JACCS and Visa tie for first

multi-currency prepaid card in Japan

15

MCB becomes the first issuer of Un-

ionPay cards in Africa 16

UnionPay establishes agreement with

Kyrgyzstani bank 16

UnionPay creates agreements with

partners in France and Switzerland 16

UnionPay extends its acceptance

among international travel and educa-

tion providers... 16

... plus African payment processing

firms 16

JCB creates deals to improve card issu-

ance and acceptance across multiple

countries 16

CaixaBank and Global Payments form

merchant payment services joint ven-

ture in Brazil... 17

... which rolls out mobile payment so-

lution for small businesses as its first

product 17

Watchdata combines with local part-

ners to launch dual currency smart

card 17

RETAILER BANKING 17

Scotiabank to install ATMs in Couche-

Tard convenience stores across Que-

bec 17

RETAILER CARDS 17

Itaú Unibanco seals retailer financial

services pact with Cencosud 17

Citi Retail Services extends long-

standing private label card partnership

with Staples... 18

... and acquires Best Buy credit card

portfolio from Capital One 18

GE Capital Retail Bank secures private

label retailer card agreements with

three partners 18

LaSer and Système U combine for

introduction of new Visa card 18

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Affinity Insurance News

ASSISTANCE

QDOS selects Aria Assistance for road assistance

In the UK, Aria Assistance has been selected as the provider of white-labelled road assistance and breakdown recovery services sold by QDOS Rescue Services (part of QDOS Insurance Services). These products will mainly be sold di-rectly online, although QDOS will also promote them through a num-ber of aggregators, including com-parethemarket.com, Know Your Money and moneysupermar-ket.com. The services available will include roadside repair or recovery, cover at home, overnight emer-gency accommodation and cour-tesy vehicles.

RAC secures contract with ma-jor used car dealer network

Also in the UK, Carbase, which is a large independent used car dealer network in the south-west of Eng-land, has recently signed up to the RAC BuySure program. All used vehicles sold in conjunction with this scheme undergo an 82-point preparation check, and obtain a minimum of three months RAC warranty cover, three months of complimentary RAC road assis-tance cover and enrolment into RAC's accident management ser-vice. Carbase has branches in Wes-ton-super-Mare, Lympsham and Brent Knoll, and also operates a national car sales website.

Tranquilidade and Europ Assis-tance combine to target Portu-guese moving abroad

In Portugal, insurer Tranquilidade (owned by Grupo Espírito Santo) is to collaborate with Europ Assis-tance for a new product being of-fered to customers moving abroad for work. The new policies com-bine life insurance and travel assis-tance, with Europ Assistance re-sponsible for providing the latter. The proposition includes payment of medical expenses up to EUR 50,000, repatriation or medical transportation in the event of seri-ous injury or illness, and cover for loss of luggage, cancelation and trip interruption.

HomeServe to distribute cover through two more US water utilities

In the US, HomeServe has an-nounced an expanded distribution agreement with Aqua America, encompassing more than 66,000 potential customers located in the Aqua Texas service territory. This is, in fact, Aqua America’s sixth territory to offer HomeServe’s wa-ter line repair plans; more than 91,000 Aqua America customers across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana already subscribe to a service plan from HomeServe.

In the same field, one of Home-Serve's wholly-owned subsidiaries (Home Emergency Insurance Solu-tions) has signed an agreement with Dublin San Ramon Services District, a Californian water and sewerage utility company. Under this deal, optional water line repair

plans will be offered to around 15,000 water customers living in the Dublin and San Ramon area.

—————————————--COMMERCIAL INSURANCE

Beazley offers insurance with association of event organisers in Australia

In Australia, Beazley has entered into a nationwide partnership with Meetings & Events Australia (MEA), a trade association for the business events industry. Under the terms of the agreement, MEA's members will have access to Beazley's event cancellation insur-ance. Beazley has been underwrit-ing policies for the conference, exhibition, tradeshow, sports, en-tertainment and leisure industries for over 20 years and it has main-tained an underwriting team for event cancellation risks in Australia since 2010.

Euler Hermes introduces trade credit insurance for HSBC cus-tomers in Singapore...

Euler Hermes has disclosed that it has begun offering trade credit in-surance to HSBC's commercial banking customers in Singapore. According to the Paris-based spe-cialist, demand for trade credit in-surance in Asia is being driven by business conducted on less secure terms than in the past as compa-nies in the region are increasingly under pressure to trade on an open-account basis. HSBC and Euler Hermes, a subsidiary of Allianz, have been strategic partners for trade credit insurance in Brazil, Mexico, the UAE and the US since

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2008. The partnership has also been launched in the more recent past in France, Hong Kong and the UK.

... and teams up with French agency for international busi-ness development

In another initiative involving Euler Hermes, it has signed an agreement with UBIFRANCE, the French agency for international business development, to pool their respective expertise on behalf of French companies abroad. As part of the agreement, the two partners have set up a collection service dedicated to UBIFRANCE customers. UBIFRANCE will also promote Euler Hermes’ interna-tional support services, including use of the insurer’s data about 40

million companies monitored worldwide and its facility for launching legal collection proceed-ings. The two companies will also sponsor joint events focused on international matters, notably those involving financing and market penetration strategies for new high-potential markets.

————————————— --HEALTH INSURANCE

Aflac and Japan Post extend cancer insurance distribution agreement

In Japan, Aflac and Japan Post have entered into a new agreement, further expanding their partnership that was initially established in 2008. Aflac will remain the exclu-sive provider of cancer insurance

distributed through post offices nationwide across Japan. Through this alliance, Japan Post intends to expand the number of post office outlets that offer Aflac's cancer insurance products, gradually in-creasing them from 1,000 to 20,000. Also, subject to regulatory approval, Japan Post Insurance will enter into an agency contract with Aflac Japan to begin distributing the firm's cancer insurance prod-ucts at all of its directly-managed sales offices. In addition, in consul-tation with Japan Post, Aflac Japan will consider developing an exclu-sive cancer insurance product for both Japan Post and Japan Post Insurance.

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LIFE INSURANCE

AIA and Discovery Holdings combine for wellness-based life insurance model

Discovery Holdings of South Af-rica and AIA Group, an insurance group headquartered in Singapore, have announced a joint venture to introduce the wellness-based life insurance model of the former to the Asia-Pacific region. The ven-ture, to be known as AIA Vitality, combines AIA’s distribution prow-ess in the region with Discovery’s expertise in wellness-based life in-surance, offering protection prod-ucts designed to deliver lower pre-mium rates to AIA's customers. In particular, participants can obtain discounts on their premiums as they achieve personal wellness goals over time.

—————————————--

MOTOR INSURANCE

Allianz and Volvo enter into car insurance partnership in France

Allianz and Volvo have signed an agreement for the promotion of motor insurance underwritten by Allianz through Volvo dealers in France. This partnership follows similar agreements the two parties have struck in Austria and France. Volvo has already been offering motor insurance with different partners in France for a period of ten years. The manufacturer brand also stated that in 2012 one in five French buyers of new Volvo cars bought the insurance offered via dealers.

Schweizerische Mobiliar and Migros collaborate for car shar-ing platform

In Switzerland, insurer Schweize-rische Mobiliar has joined forces with retail group Migros to roll out Sharoo, an online car sharing plat-form for both private and corpo-rate car users. Under the terms of the agreement, Schweizerische Mo-biliar will develop tailored insur-ance solutions for the platform that the two partners anticipate will go online at the end of October 2013.

—————————————--NICHE INSURANCE

UK insurance providers launch excess protection product through automotive media af-finities

In the UK, non-life insurer UK General has extended an existing relationship with specialist motor insurance broker ALA Insurance Brokers by means of the launch of a new excess protection product which will be marketed through automotive media affinities Auto-trader, and Exchange and Mart, plus the broker's own website. The new product follows on from the previous launch of a scratch, dent and alloy protection policy by the two firms. Sold as an add-on to the broker's core GAP insurance pol-icy, the excess protection product provides comprehensive cover for up to GBP 750.

Achmea works with Dutch trade union for legal protection ser-vice

In the Netherlands, trade union

federation CNV Vakcentrale and Achmea have announced that they intend to co-operate in the field of family legal aid and insurance from the start of 2014. Through this new partnership, CNV will continue to provide free legal assistance to its members for work-related topics, such as dismissal procedures, re-structuring and wage disputes, but it will no longer provide assistance for private matters. Instead, this will be handled by Achmea, offer-ing members of the union a wider range of legal assistance and insur-ance cover at a discounted price. As part of this, the staff of CNV Rechtshulp (the trade union's legal assistance arm) will be transferred to Stichting Achmea Rechtsbi-jstand (Achmea's legal protection company).

Markerstudy Group subsidiary wins pet insurance deal with Capita Insurance Distribution

In the UK, Capita Insurance Distri-bution has selected Zenith Insur-ance, part of Markerstudy Group, to underwrite its pet insurance poli-cies. This process has already be-gun for current renewals, and will therefore be completed by mid-2014. Capita administers pet cover underwritten by nine insurers (including Aviva and LV=) for around 400,000 customers across the UK. This is the first major dis-tribution deal for Zenith Insurance outside motor insurance, its tradi-tional area of expertise.

British Rowing launches part-nership with Elite Rowing In-surance

Also in the UK, Elite Rowing In-

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surance, whose policies are man-aged by Lovat Insurance Brokers and underwritten by Zurich’s Navi-gators and General (N&G), has seen its specialist rowing insurance scheme endorsed by British Row-ing, the governing body for the sport of rowing. The partnership allows Elite Rowing Insurance to offer bespoke cover to 550 clubs and discounted premiums to 27,000 individual members who own boats and who are registered with British Rowing.

Allianz develops innovative stu-dent insurance product for Spanish university network

In Spain, Allianz and Universia, a university network, have estab-lished a partnership for the promo-tion of an insurance product aimed at students which insures tuition fees for the full period of study in the event of the death, disability or unemployment of students’ par-ents. The product, which is inter-mediated by Segurosbroker, is available to all Spanish students whose parents are below 70 years of age. Students can choose which components of cover they want to take out; death and permanent dis-ability only; temporary incapacity; unemployment; or a combination of the three.

Universia is a network of 1,242 universities across the Iberian pen-insula and Latin America. In Spain, Universia has 79 member universi-ties which represent 1.5 million students.

—————————————--

PRODUCT INSURANCE / WARRANTIES

Domestic & General signs up Samsung and Smeg as partners in the UK

In the UK, Domestic & General has entered into two new extended warranty relationships. One is with Samsung with a focus on the brand's television products which will be based around registration stickers and in-box registration cards. The other is with kitchen appliance manufacturer Smeg which sees the migration to the UK of an existing partnership in Italy in the form of a five-year agreement.

CarGarantie secures four new extended warranty deals in Europe

Automotive extended warranty specialist CarGarantie has entered into a quartet of new agreements in different European countries. Spe-cifically, these are with Triumph (a motor cycle manufacturer) in Aus-tria and Germany, Auto Italia (an importer of Alfa Romeo and Fiat cars) in Bulgaria, Subaru in the Netherlands, and the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands in Poland.

The Warranty Group earns ex-tended warranty contract with Argentine retail group

In Argentina, The Warranty Group and retail group Garbarino have signed an agreement for the provi-sion of underwriting, administra-tion and technical support for ex-tended warranties sold in conjunc-tion with consumer electronic products. The program will be im-

plemented throughout the Gar-barino's 153 retail locations in the country which include both Gar-barino itself and Compumundo outlets.

Assurant buys UK mobile gadget and phone insurance specialist LSG...

With a focus on the UK mobile gadget and phone insurance sector, Assurant has announced an agree-ment to purchase Lifestyle Services Group (LSG), a company specialis-ing in this field, for up to USD 160 million (close to GBP 100 million) in cash from Phones 4u Finance. With around GBP 115 million in annual revenues, LSG is one of the largest providers of mobile device insurance in the UK, providing the service through several banks and mobile network operators. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

... and rolls out premium hand-set protection services for T-Mobile in the US

In addition, in conjunction with mobile network operator T-Mobile, Assurant has disclosed an en-hanced handset protection policy in the US that allows customers to upgrade their phone as often as twice a year while maintaining pro-tection against loss, theft, acciden-tal damage and technical malfunc-tion.

Frontier Secure and Asurion launch no-contract electronic equipment protection plans

Also in the US, Frontier Secure,

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part of telecoms group Frontier Communications, has rolled out new comprehensive equipment protection services in partnership with Asurion. In addition to Fron-tier Secure's identity theft protec-tion, technical support and data security services, the group is now offering Asurion's extended repair and replacement plans covering most types of computing equip-ment, portable gadgets and con-sumer electronics to both business and private customers, all with no requirement for any contract.

Solid Försäkringar secures affin-ity insurance contract with jew-ellery chain

In Sweden, Solid Försäkringar has entered into a distribution partner-ship with Adorn, a jewellery chain that operates more than 70 stores across the country. Through this agreement, Solid Försäkringar will offer jewellery insurance cover for Adorn's customers.

Middlesea Assist wins mandate with Malta's largest automotive dealer group...

In Malta, Middlesea Assist, an as-sistance subsidiary of MAPFRE Asistencia, has entered into an agreement with Michael Debono, the local importer of the Toyota and Hino automotive brands, to operate extended warranty and road assistance programs. This builds upon a comparable previous contract set up in 2012 with Cars International, the Maltese importer of Opel. Michael Debono is Malta's largest dealer group in terms of its market share of new vehicle sales (at more than 15%) and is also ac-tive in the used vehicle sector.

... and enters into partnership with Samsung for extended war-ranties

Middlesea Assist has also secured a contract with Sound Machine, the Maltese importer of Samsung

products, to set up an extended warranty scheme for televisions (with widths from 19 to 65 inches). It is anticipated that the contract will broaden subsequently to other consumer electronic products manufactured by Samsung includ-ing fridges, ovens and washing ma-chines.

—————————————--TRAVEL INSURANCE

MAPFRE Assistance earns travel assistance deal with fuel retailing group

In Hungary and neighbouring countries, MAPFRE Assistance has won a contract with fuel retailer MOL for the provision of travel assistance policies lasting three, five or ten days, and valid across the whole of Europe plus Egypt, Mo-rocco, Tunisia and Turkey. Cus-tomers can activate the service by phone, entering a personal security code received when they buy the

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product. The product was launched in May 2013 at around 100 fuel stations located at larger towns and cities in Hungary and on major roads in Austria, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

RBC Insurance begins transi-tioning travel agency insurance business to Manulife Financial

In Canada, Manulife Financial has entered into an agreement with RBC Insurance whereby the for-mer company will reinsure the travel insurance coverage sold by the latter through travel agencies. This arrangement includes transi-tioning to Manulife the sales and distribution support needed by the travel agency business of RBC In-surance. In addition, the travel agencies will be offered the oppor-tunity to renew their agency agree-ments with Manulife upon expira-tion of their current RBC Insur-ance contracts. However, RBC In-surance will continue to act as in-surance provider to the travel agen-cies until the expiration of the cur-rent travel agency contracts. The arrangements are not subject to regulatory approval and are ex-pected to commence during the third quarter of 2013.

Santam acquires leading South African travel insurance special-ist

In South Africa, Santam has ac-quired 100% of Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC), one of the country's leading travel insurance businesses that has been in opera-tion for 25 years. TIC will become a division of Santam although will continue to trade under its own

brand. The company is especially strong at selling through the travel trade distribution channel with key partners including Flight Centre, Rennies Travel and Sure Travel.

————————————— --GENERAL

Direct Line and Münchener Verein Versicherungsgruppe enter into reciprocal marketing agreement

In Germany, Direct Line and Münchener Verein Versicherungs-gruppe have started co-operating for the reciprocal marketing of each others' products. Specifically, Direct Line will promote its part-ner's supplementary long-term care insurance products to its client base, while Münchener Verein Ver-sicherungsgruppe will recommend Direct Line's motor insurance poli-cies to its own customers.

—————————————--

Bancassurance News

ASSISTANCE

Europ Assistance to provide travel cover for Spanish bank's cardholders

In Spain, as part of a strengthening partnership between the two firms, Europ Assistance has assumed re-sponsibility for the provision of travel assistance services for hold-ers of Banco Popular's credit cards. Customers with Classic, Gold, Sil-ver or Business Gold Business Visa cards who meet with unforeseeable expenses while travelling now have

guaranteed travel assistance, includ-ing transportation or repatriation in the event of injury or illness, early return and round-trip travel plus accommodation for an accompany-ing family member, as well as the payment of medical, surgical, phar-maceutical and hospital expenses.

————————————— --LIFE INSURANCE

BNP Paribas Cardif joint ven-ture signs distribution deal with Vietnamese bank

In Vietnam, Vietcombank Cardif Life Insurance Company (VCLI), has signed a bancassurance agree-ment with Saigon Commercial Bank. Savings and protection insur-ance products to be developed by VCLI will be distributed through Saigon Commercial Bank's network of more than 230 branches. The first product to be developed will be an account protection policy, insuring the bank's customers against death and disability. Saigon Commercial Bank is one of the top five joint stock commercial banks in Vietnam with total assets of about EUR 5.54 billion and more than 4,000 bank staff. Meanwhile, VCLI is a joint venture co-owned by Vietcombank (45%), BNP Paribas Cardif (43%) and SeABank (12%) which has already launched creditor insurance through its co-owners plus OCB.

Dai-Ichi Life acquires stake in Indonesian bancassurer

In the Indonesian bancassurance market, Japan-based Dai-ichi Life has announced that it has agreed to

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buy new shares issued by Panin Life equivalent to 40% of its equity capital. Panin Life is a life insur-ance subsidiary of Panin Financial, a leading financial corporation which also owns Panin Bank, which is itself one of the country's major banks, as well as other finan-cial institutions. Simultaneously, subject to obtaining relevant ap-provals from local authorities, Panin Life is also expected to enter into an exclusive long-term bancas-surance agreement with Panin Bank.

—————————————--GENERAL

Aviva secures distribution through Polish bank network up to the end of 2033

Aviva and Bank Zachodni WBK have agreed an expansion of their strategic partnership in Poland. Under the terms of this agreement, Aviva will increase its distribution network from around 500 to 900 branches across Poland, with ac-cess to approximately 4 million bank customers. Additionally, the two partners will extend their stra-tegic partnership by a further ten years up to the end of 2033. Bank Zachodni WBK, part of the Santander group, is the third-largest bank in Poland in terms of assets, loans and deposits. Mean-while, Aviva is Poland’s fourth-largest life insurer, with a strong retail business and distribution agreements in place with Alior Bank, Bank Pocztowy and BGZ, as well as Bank Zachodni WBK.

RBS divests further equity stake in Direct Line Insurance Group

UK-based banking group RBS has announced the sale of 300 million ordinary shares in Direct Line In-surance Group, raising GBP 630 million in the process. This sale marks the continuation of the group's EU-mandated disposal strategy, with cash proceeds being used for general corporate pur-poses. The sale means that the group now holds 427.4 million or-dinary shares in the insurer, which it previously owned outright, repre-senting 28.5% of the issued ordi-nary share capital. Moreover, it represents the third such reduction in less than a year given previous disposals of a 34.7% stake in Octo-ber 2012 and a further 16.8% in March 2013.

—————————————--

Affinity Banking News

AFFINITY ACCOUNTS

American Express ties Serve prepaid account to League of Legends game

American Express has announced a new strategic partnership with Riot Games to bring in-game re-wards to League of Legends players through expenditure via the Ameri-can Express Serve Prepaid Ac-count.

The American Express Serve Pre-paid Account enhances the experi-ence for League of Legends players by integrating a reward-based sys-tem called RP+. This gives gamers so-called Riot Points, the virtual currency used to purchase in-game

items like extra customisation or boosts, not only for signing up, but for every qualifying purchase made with the League of Legends Card.

League of Legends has more than 32 million active monthly players worldwide who log more than 1 billion hours of game-play each month. Gamers who sign up for RP+ can elect to receive a custom-ised League of Legends Card with their choice of four popular Cham-pions and original art from the game itself.

The American Express Serve Pre-paid Account allows cardholders to transfer money seamlessly and free of charge between their fellow players who also have a Serve ac-count. Players can also benefit from the money management fea-tures of the account, such as direct deposit, bill pay and free cash with-drawals at MoneyPass ATMs. To sign up there are no credit checks, no hidden fees and no minimum balance requirements to maintain.

The American Express Serve Pre-paid Card can be used virtually any-where that American Express cards are accepted worldwide, and cus-tomers can also benefit from asso-ciated insurance and assistance en-hancements including purchase protection and roadside assistance.

—————————————--AFFINITY CARDS

Equity Bank introduces prepaid affinity card with Kenyan uni-versity

In Kenya, the Kenyatta University has initiated a partnership with Eq-

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uity Bank for a prepaid alumni card carrying the MasterCard brand and enabled with PayPass contactless payment functionality. This allows alumni to enjoy discounts with se-lected partners, ranging from ho-tels, bookshops and hospitals to insurance companies, mobile phone service providers and pri-vate tutors. Partners include Apollo Insurance, the Automobile Asso-ciation of Kenya, Emergency Plus services (Red Cross), Safaricom and Text Book Centre. Cardhold-ers earn redeemable points each time that they use their cards to make transactions and can also load them by transferring funds directly from their Equity Bank accounts or via Safaricom’s mobile money platform Mpesa.

————————————— --AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE

Sberbank increases equity stake in consumer finance joint ven-ture

In Russia, BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Sberbank have dis-closed that their consumer finance joint venture, Cetelem Bank, has proved successful during its first ten months of business: point-of-sale balances outstanding have doubled, and personal car loan bal-ances have increased four-fold. This has led Sberbank to transfer its proprietary car loan business, generated through partnerships with car manufacturers and car dealers, to Cetelem Bank; as part of the transaction, Sberbank has in-creased its stake in the joint ven-ture from 70% to 74%, and it has an option to increase its stake to 80% after another three years.

Crédit Agricole and Fiat extend joint venture through to end of 2021

Also in the field of automotive fi-nance, Crédit Agricole and Fiat have extended the contractual life of FGA Capital, a company that they own jointly, up to the end of 2021. FGA Capital handles Fiat's main customer and dealer financing activities in a number of European markets.

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CO-BRANDED CARDS

MasterCard rolls out new fre-quent flyer membership card with Qantas

In Australia, MasterCard and Qan-tas have released a new frequent flyer membership card with ex-panded functionality that includes storage of foreign currency, access to cash worldwide via ATM with-drawals and earning points on spending in Australia and overseas. Members of the Qantas frequent flyer program have begun receiving these chip-enabled cards with al-most 500,000 having pre-registered for the new product having been attracted by the concept of a single card to check-in for flights, access lounges, store up to nine foreign currencies and make purchases at home or abroad. In total, the Qan-tas frequent flyer program has around 9.4 million members and it aims to reach 10 million in the near future.

Bank of America renews co-branding partnership with Vir-gin Atlantic...

In the US, Bank of America has disclosed the long-term renewal of its co-branding partnership with Virgin Atlantic plus the launch of a new Virgin Atlantic World Elite MasterCard credit card. The new card rewards customers with three Flying Club miles for every USD 1.0 spent on Virgin Atlantic pur-chases and 1.5 miles for all other purchases. In addition, it also in-corporates MasterCard's 'Priceless Cities' concept that handpicks ex-periences and offers in their home cities and around the world, includ-ing exclusive access to concerts, restaurants, museums and sporting events.

... and also launches a new co-branded card for Royal Carib-bean

Bank of America has also renewed its long-standing partnership with the Royal Caribbean family of brands by launching a range of new co-branded credit card products. Cardholders will be able to earn and redeem points, known as My-Cruise Rewards, on three of the group's cruise brands, namely Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean Inter-national. Through MyCruise Re-wards, cardholders will earn dis-counts on cruise-related packages and spend points on cruises, cabin upgrades, gifts, and onboard credit across all three cruise brands. The new cards will earn double points for purchases with the three cruise brands and one point for every USD 1.0 spent on all other pur-

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chases.

HDFC Bank and Jet Airways launch co-branded debit card in India

In India, Jet Airways has enhanced its partnership with HDFC Bank, the country's second-largest private sector bank, by launching what is claimed to be the country's first premium debit card, the JetPrivi-lege-HDFC Bank World Debit Card. This card allows users to earn JPMiles, the 'currency' of the Jet Airways frequent flyer scheme, on all daily purchases at stores or online, as well as through acquisi-tion of Jet Airways airline tickets.

TD Bank to acquire portion of Aeroplan Visa card portfolio from CIBC

In Canada, TD Bank is set to be-come the primary issuer of Aero-plan Visa credit card products hav-ing agreed to acquire around 50% of the existing portfolio from CIBC, the current issuer, in a deal that represents around CND 300 billion of credit card receivables. Following this divestment, CIBC will continue to issue and manage Aeroplan Visa cards for customers with whom it holds a broader banking relationship (such as its own current account holders), and may also continue to originate new card accounts, whereas the majority of card-only customers will have their accounts sold to TD Bank.

Aeroplan is a coalition loyalty scheme owned by Aimia, and is one of the largest in Canada. Its members earn Aeroplan Miles with a network of over 75 partners, rep-

resenting more than 150 brands in the financial, retail, and travel sec-tors.

Orange and Visa collaborate for co-branded prepaid card in Bot-swana

In Botswana, Orange and Visa have revealed that Orange Money subscribers in the country now have access to Visa's payment functionality when using their Or-ange Money accounts. Specifically, the enhanced service allows Or-ange Money subscribers to access their funds 24 hours a day by with-drawing money at ATMs and mak-ing point-of-sale or online pur-chases wherever Visa is accepted. This builds on the current Orange Money service which allows cus-tomers to use their mobile phones to transfer funds to any mobile phone subscriber in the country as well as to pay electricity and other bills and to buy airtime. To make use of the service, Orange Money subscribers must simply apply for an Orange Money prepaid Visa card, issued by BancABC, which is then instantly linked to their exist-ing Orange Money account.

Botswana is the first country in the world where Visa and Orange are collaborating to allow Orange Money subscribers to make Visa transactions, following the an-nouncement of a group-wide stra-tegic agreement between Orange and Visa in 2012.

Western Union and Commercial Bank of Dubai introduce pre-paid payroll card in UAE

In the UAE, Western Union and

Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) have unveiled a co-branded prepaid payroll card, the CBD Western Union Payroll Card, as a response to the UAE Wages Protection Sys-tem, which requires that all workers in the UAE receive pay electroni-cally, either deposited into a bank account or onto a prepaid card. The card allows workers to receive their pay directly and the facility to then transfer funds overseas via Western Union. The large number of foreign residents in the UAE is estimated to have transferred funds abroad of around USD 11.2 billion in 2011.

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CONSUMER FINANCE

Credit Europe Bank finalises Russian joint venture with IKANO Group

Credit Europe Bank and IKANO Group have announced the regis-tration of a joint venture bank in Russia. The new bank, named IKANO Bank, is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2013, subject to obtaining a rele-vant corporate banking license. IKANO and Credit Europe Bank were already co-operating in the country, with the bank providing consumer financial services for customers of IKANO Group's IKEA stores and MEGA shopping centres.

Citibank links with Carrefour for consumer finance initiative in Bahrain

In Bahrain, Citibank has unveiled a consumer finance partnership with

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Carrefour to enhance the shopping experience of customers at one of the largest hypermarkets in the country. In particular, Citibank credit card customers can purchase any electronic item from Carrefour and sign up to pay in interest-free monthly instalments over three or six months.

BNL finances university fees of Venice-based university

In Italy, BNL and the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice have signed an agreement through which the bank will fund students' university fees until they graduate. Students then start paying back the fees during the final year of their course with a preferential interest rate charged for the following five years if they need extra time to complete the repayment. The deal also includes a free bank account with online ac-cess.

————————————— --INTERNATIONAL / DOMES-TIC REMITTANCES

Western Union secures Chinese ties with ICBC and UnionPay

Western Union has expanded into China’s banking channel, introduc-ing international direct-to-bank remittances in the country while also broadening its cross-border money transfer service. First, through an agreement with Union-Pay, Western Union customers are able to transfer funds from selected Western Union retail locations di-rectly to bank accounts in China. Furthermore, a separate agreement with ICBC (Industrial and Com-mercial Bank of China) is enabling

more than 400 million of the bank's customers to receive West-ern Union transfers to their bank accounts through online banking.

————————————— --MOBILE / ONLINE PAY-MENTS

Citibank enters into enhanced mobile payment partnership with Taiwanese cinema operator

In Taiwan, Citibank has extended a partnership with Vieshow Cinemas to offer a new paperless or QR code ticketing service. Citibank Taiwan first forged a partnership with Vieshow Cinema in 2012, making the latter's website accessi-ble to clients via their smartphones for ease of purchasing tickets. Dis-counts were also made available via Citi Mobile.

With the new service, clients who book tickets using Citi credit cards on their smartphones will be able to enter cinemas directly without having to queue up to collect their movie tickets. Specifically, when a client purchases tickets using a smartphone, a set of QR codes will automatically be generated and stored onto the client's mobile phone. Clients can then enter cine-mas by simply scanning in the codes on their mobile phones.

According to a report released in August 2013 by Google and Ipsos MediaCT on smartphone buying behaviour, 37.0% of Taiwan's smartphone users have made at least one purchase using their phones with 15.6% of all phone-based purchases attributable to buying tickets, the highest propor-

tion among the various product categories studied. These figures show that the growth of mobile commerce via smartphones is on an upward trajectory.

MasterCard launches mobile payment solution with trio of Egyptian partners

In Egypt, MasterCard is collaborat-ing with EBC (Egyptian Banks Company), Fawry and NBE (National Bank of Egypt) for a new mobile payment solution known as Phone Cash. This mobile wallet is available to both banked and un-banked customers across Egypt who can 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. Eventually, it will also be possible to use the wallet to pay for goods and services at several mer-chants in Egypt and to enable users to make e-commerce transactions around the world.

The Phone Cash service operates independently from the network of any specific mobile company, mak-ing NBE the first bank in Egypt and the wider Middle East to pro-vide such facility. Consumers can download the Phone Cash applica-tion on any mobile handset as an e-wallet that is easily recharged with money from any of around 20,000 Fawry outlets in Egypt, the core function of which is to enable cus-tomers to receive bills and to pay them securely. NBE customers can also link their MasterCard cards to this application to enable money transfers from their bank accounts to recharge the balance of their e-

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wallets.

Etisalat ties with MasterCard and NBE for launch of new mo-bile wallet

Also in Egypt, Etisalat, MasterCard and NBE (National Bank of Egypt) have announced the launch of a service known as Florus as a mo-bile wallet for Etisalat's subscriber base. This product is an early im-plementation of the solution that MasterCard and EBC (Egyptian Banks Company) had introduced already to this market and repre-sents the world’s first ever interop-erable Arabic mobile money pro-gram. It uses the Etisalat mobile network and can be deployed on any mobile phone.

The first phase of the program al-lows subscribers to transfer money to anyone participating in the ser-vice using their mobile phones, and to load cash on their phones or take out cash through over 100 of Etisalat’s outlets and over 300 of NBE’s branches across Egypt.

The second phase of the program will allow subscribers to pay bills through their mobile phones, to top up their mobile prepaid lines, and to pay for goods and services at several merchant locations, in addition to using the service for e-commerce payments globally.

Italian partners join forces for mobile payments trial

In Italy, mobile network operator Wind and BNL, in collaboration with SIA and MasterCard, have announced the start of a trial in-volving NFC technology. This al-

lows users to make contactless pur-chases via Samsung smartphones utilising a MasterCard credit card issued by BNL. To utilise the ser-vice, users simply select the 'YouPass BNL’ app and place the smartphone against a point-of-sale terminal enabled to accept contact-less payments (identifiable by MasterCard's PayPass logo).

ICICI Bank works with Movida for mobile payment service

In India, the country's largest pri-vate-sector bank, ICICI Bank has joined forces with Movida, a com-pany owned jointly by Monitise and Visa, to launch new ways to help its customers pay and buy via mobile phone. In particular, the service enables the bank's card-holders to pay bills, to recharge prepaid airtime and to buy cinema tickets from their mobile phone. It is possible for them to access Movida either through a menu-based USSD mobile technology or an interactive voice response (IVR) service in multiple languages. Card-holders are able to make payments through Movida’s secured connec-tion after linking their payment card to a mobile phone number registered with ICICI Bank; card account information is kept secure by a unique PIN number. It is be-lieved that these options make the service easy to use, especially as they are widely available from any type of mobile phone, including basic models, and can be operated across all mobile networks using any payment card, irrespective of whether it carries the Visa brand or not.

Telefónica appoints Monitise as an official mobile payments partner

Monitise itself has become an offi-cial mobile payments partner for Telefónica with a remit to develop and manage new and existing mo-bile payment and commerce ser-vices for the group's customers. Under the terms of the agreement, Monitise will complement existing technology partners, taking a lead role in the development of a global technology platform to support payment and mobile commerce services. The initial focus of the partnership will be in the UK.

Monitise strikes up mobile pay-ment deals in Canada, the UK and the US

Other initiatives involving Monitise in the field of mobile payments are visible in Canada, the UK and the US.

In Canada, it has reached an agree-ment with co-operative financial group Desjardins to develop and deploy NFC mobile payment capa-bilities to the group's members and clients. In particular, the agreement with Monitise will allow Desjardins to offer its members and clients a secure contactless mobile payment smartphone application to be launched in 2014. In the UK, Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has stated that it will offer mobile card acceptance solutions to micro-merchants, start-ups and small business owners through Monitise, beginning in autumn 2013. Finally, in the US, Monitise has disclosed a partnership with Card Services for Credit Unions (CSCU) that will

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enable this entity to offer a mobile banking and payment solution as part of its suite of products for the 2,600 credit unions that it serves.

Western Union concludes sev-eral new mobile payment part-nerships

International money transfer and payments specialist Western Union has announced several new rela-tionships, with the aim of expand-ing the availability of its services through mobile platforms.

In the US, it has begun collaborat-ing with U.S. Bank to offer its cus-tomers access to money transfer services through both online and mobile banking. Also in the US, it has announced that customers of mobile networks Boost (owned by Sprint) and Virgin Mobile USA will have access to its mobile money transfer services through Android apps or through a specially opti-mised mobile website.

In Nepal, Western Union has forged an agreement with mobile wallet service eSewa. This has been developed through the collabora-tive efforts of Western Union, its agent Nabil Bank and FonePay, the owner of eSewa. Specifically, con-sumers who subscribe to the eSewa mobile wallet have the option of receiving a Western Union transfer on their mobile phones, or through eSewa’s web interface.

Finally, in Nigeria, Western Union and eTranzact, an electronic pay-ment processing company, have revealed the launch of a new mo-bile money transfer service which will give eTranzact customers the

option of receiving Western Union transfers through their mobile handsets.

Sberbank acquires majority stake in Yandex online pay-ments business

In Russia, Sberbank has taken a 75% stake in Yandex.Money, the online payments business of Yan-dex, a company operating the most widely-used internet search engine in the country. Yandex.Money aims to provide a convenient online pay-ment solution for SMEs and to make online transactions easier for customers. As the first step to-wards encouraging greater use of online payments, Sberbank is waiv-ing the commission that it formerly charged to all bank cards for Yan-dex.Money top-ups at its ATMs.

————————————— - -PAYMENT CARD ACCEP-TANCE AND ISSUANCE

American Express enters into card distribution partnership with Wells Fargo

In the US, Wells Fargo has entered into a partnership with American Express under which it will begin issuing new credit cards accepted on the American Express network. The bank will make the cards avail-able on a nationwide basis by the middle of 2014 and its customers will be able to apply for them di-rectly through mail, online or by phone as well as via around 6,000 branch locations. The bank has been conducting a pilot program in selected areas during the third quarter of 2013, with a full-scale launch planned during the first half

of 2014.

Citibank, JACCS and Visa tie for first multi-currency prepaid card in Japan

In Japan, Citibank, JACCS and Visa have combined to launch the country's first multi-currency pre-paid card. The Visa card is being issued by JACCS and is intended for the exclusive use of Citibank customers who have a multi-money account and a savings account de-nominated in local currency.

In particular, it is characterised by a multi-currency function that allows the cardholder to charge four for-eign currencies (Australian dollar, Euro, UK pound and US dollar) in addition to Japanese yen onto one card. Customers who have foreign currency in their Citibank multi-money account can charge the pre-paid card with foreign currency transferred directly from the ac-count. Moreover, they can with-draw cash at any of around 2 mil-lion ATMs worldwide in the for-eign currency with which the pre-paid card was charged.

A service that allows customers to make direct use of foreign curren-cies deposited in their bank ac-count is rare and ways to utilise foreign currencies have hitherto been limited for Japanese residents. However, the prepaid card allows cardholders to make direct use of foreign currencies in their bank account without incurring the cost of converting the currency to yen or being affected by exchange rate risk. Use of the card also minimises risks such as over-use, loss, theft and forgery, as it is limited to the

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amount of cash with which the cardholder charged the card.

Separately, JACCS has announced that it will use Gonna as a brand name to cover its entire prepaid card business in future, and that it will provide a wide variety of pre-paid card services in co-operation with Visa.

MCB becomes the first issuer of UnionPay cards in Africa

Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) has revealed that it will begin issu-ing cards linked to the UnionPay network in Mauritius, marking the first time that UnionPay cards have been made available anywhere in Africa. MCB is the largest commer-cial bank in Mauritius with 47 branches in both that country plus neighbouring territories including Madagascar, the Maldives and the Seychelles.

UnionPay establishes agreement with Kyrgyzstani bank

UnionPay has also expanded its footprint to Kyrgyzstan by means of an agreement with Russia In-vestment Bank (RIB) covering card issuance, acceptance and interna-tional remittances. Specifically, RIB has agreed to begin issuing cards carrying the UnionPay marquee and is also expected to accept them at its ATMs by the end of 2013. In addition, cross-border remittance services are planned, allowing local residents to make remittances to the UnionPay accounts of Chinese cardholders.

UnionPay creates agreements with partners in France and Switzerland

UnionPay has announced the sign-ing of agreements with both Crédit Agricole and Société Générale in France as well as SIX Payment Ser-vices in Switzerland for the expan-sion of UnionPay card acceptance in these countries. Crédit Agricole, one of UnionPay’s founding mem-bers, will help to expand the pay-ment brand's reach beyond Paris and the French Riviera, while mer-chants associated with Société Gé-nérale in both France and Monaco will begin accepting UnionPay cards at the point of sale. Mean-while, the deal with SIX Payment Services should result in an expan-sion in the number of Swiss mer-chants accepting UnionPay cards. By the end of 2014, it is anticipated that UnionPay cards will be ac-cepted by all ATMs and point-of-sale terminals operated by SIX Pay-ment Services in the country.

UnionPay extends its accep-tance among international travel and education providers...

UnionPay has also been involved in forging a variety of other agree-ments with the ultimate aim of broadening acceptance of its cards internationally.

In Korea, it has concluded deals with BC Card and Ktis, both of which belong to telecoms firm KT Group, to develop consumer plat-forms for tourism services. It is intended that these will provide UnionPay cardholders with various benefits in the areas of communica-tions, shopping and travel, includ-

ing an expedited and automated sales tax refund service for Chinese tourists visiting Korea using Union-Pay cards.

In Canada, UnionPay has initiated an international online payment service among merchants, with Tianbao Travel Net the first to launch a service that will allow Un-ionPay's cardholders in China to book local travel products prior to arrival in the country. Furthermore, a separate agreement with US fi-nancial services company Geoswift Group aims to enable over 300 colleges and universities in the US to accept tuition payments through UnionPay cards.

... plus African payment process-ing firms

In addition, UnionPay has signed up to an agreement with South Af-rica’s largest bank card transaction processor, BankservAfrica, with the aim of co-operating in the fields of card issuance and acceptance as well as other payment services for the African market. Finally, in Ni-geria, UnionPay has reached an arrangement with bank payment processing firm InterSwitch, whereby all InterSwitch ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in the coun-try will accept UnionPay cards.

JCB creates deals to improve card issuance and acceptance across multiple countries

Japanese payment card brand JCB has entered into a series of deals across countries in Asia including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Taiwan, plus another in Brazil.

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In Bangladesh, commercial bank BRAC Bank has added JCB cards to its merchant network, allowing its clients to accept JCB cards for payment. Respectively in Cambodia and Indonesia, Singapore Banking Corporation (SBC) and CIMB Ni-aga have begun to both issue JBC cards and to support its drive for greater acceptance in those coun-tries. In Myanmar, JCB cards will be accepted through member banks of the Myanmar Payment Union, the only payment network in the country, following an agree-ment between the two organisa-tions. Meanwhile, Taiwanese bank Ta Chong Bank has become the 25th JCB card issuer in that coun-try. Finally, Brazilian bank Caixa Econômica Federal has stated that it will begin to issue JCB-branded credit cards in 2014, with debit and prepaid cards expected to follow.

CaixaBank and Global Pay-ments form merchant payment services joint venture in the Bra-zil...

Spanish financial services group CaixaBank and payment processing firm Global Payments have agreed to form a joint venture to target the Brazilian merchant payments mar-ket, to be named Comercia Global Payments Brazil. Global Payments has been working with CaixaBank since 2010 to offer payment ser-vices to merchants in Spain, where the two partners report holding around a quarter of the payment processing market. It is hoped that the new joint venture will offer solutions for contactless technol-ogy, digital payments and mobile payments.

... which rolls out mobile pay-ment solution for small busi-nesses as its first product

Indeed, one of the first initiatives developed by Comercia Global Payments Brazil is a mobile pay-ment solution that provides cus-tomers with a means of collecting payments using smartphones, streamlining electronic payments for small businesses. Customers can download an application to their smartphone and then insert the payment card into a small card reader provided by Comercia in which customers confirm the trans-action with their PIN. The pur-chase receipt is then sent to the cardholder by email or text mes-sage.

Watchdata combines with local partners to launch dual currency smart card

Singapore-based digital authentica-tion and transaction security spe-cialist Watchdata has disclosed that it has supplied the first dual cur-rency smart card for use across the international borders of Singapore and the Chinese province of Guangdong. The SINO Visitor Pass, developed jointly with Guangdong Lingnan Pass and EZ-Link, is being issued in both Singa-pore and Guangdong and carries two currencies - the Singapore dol-lar and Chinese renminbi - which can be used at all points that accept either the EZ-Link card or Lingnan Pass. It is intended that additional functions will be added over time, including inter-city top-up features and the integration of e-ticketing for a wider range of items including goods, services and tickets for tour-

ist attractions.

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RETAILER BANKING

Scotiabank to install ATMs in Couche-Tard convenience stores across Quebec

In Canada, Scotiabank's customers in Quebec will soon be able to use a new network of ATMs located within 287 Couche-Tard conven-ience stores. This arrangement will make cash withdrawals and other banking services available to Sco-tiabank customers in local Couche-Tard stores, thereby expanding Scotiabank's overall ATM network in Canada to more than 3,000, which represents an increase of 8%.

————————————— - -RETAILER CARDS

Itaú Unibanco seals retailer fi-nancial services pact with Cen-cosud

With a focus on Argentina and Chile, Itaú Unibanco and Chile-based retail group Cencosud have signed an agreement by means of which the Brazilian banking group will take a 51% stake in the re-tailer's financial services operations in those two countries. Under the terms of the deal, Itaú Unibanco will also finance 100% of Cenco-sud's credit card receivables valued at USD 1.3 billion at the time of the transaction. The agreement is scheduled to last for an initial pe-riod of 15 years. Over 3 million credit card clients in Argentina and

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Chile will benefit from this alliance which may also pave the way for development of new products and services.

Citi Retail Services extends long-standing private label card part-nership with Staples...

In North America, Citi Retail Ser-vices, a provider of commercial credit card products, services and solutions to retailers that belongs to Citigroup, has unveiled a long-term extension of its 22-year credit relationship with Staples, a com-pany that claims to be the world's largest office products company and second-largest online retailer. By means of the agreement, Citi Retail Services will continue to pro-vide processing services and cus-tomer service support for all three of Staples' private label credit card programs.

... and acquires Best Buy credit card portfolio from Capital One

Also in North America, Citi Retail Services has acquired the credit card portfolio of Best Buy, a lead-ing consumer electronics chain, from Capital One. At the time of acquisition, the portfolio included receivables worth more than USD 6 billion and it adds to the position of the company as a leading pro-vider of private label and co-branded card products to retailers and their customers in the region. Other relationships include those with ExxonMobil, Macy's, Sears, Shell and The Home Depot.

GE Capital Retail Bank secures private label retailer card agree-ments with three partners

In the US, GE Capital Retail Bank has announced three initiatives in the field of private label retailer cards.

First, it has unveiled a multi-year extension of its private label card program with Baer that is available through the home furnishings re-tailer’s 15 outlets in Florida and that was first created in 2004.

Secondly, it has set up a multi-year agreement with Phillips 66, an en-ergy company, to provide private label card programs for consumer and commercial customers nation-wide. Launched at the beginning August 2013, this contract entails both a private label credit card tar-geted at consumers and a branded business revolving charge card for commercial customers. As part of the deal, GE Capital Retail Bank has acquired the existing card pro-gram assets from Citibank.

The consumer card program will provide customers with the oppor-tunity to earn rewards for qualify-ing fuel purchases made at around 8,000 independently-owned Phillips 66, Conoco, 76 and Phillips 66 General Aviation locations nation-wide. Meanwhile, the business re-volving charge program is accepted nationwide and provides advanced account management, enabling commercial cardholders to track fuel expenses, vehicle repairs and washes, and convenience store pur-chases.

Finally, in conjunction with Ritani,

a firm that designs engagement rings and fine jewellery, it has an-nounced a multi-year agreement to develop a private label credit card program. The Ritani Credit Card can be used for purchases on Ri-tani's website, participating jewel-lers and via its telephone call cen-tre. Cardholders can also access and manage their account with a suite of digital tools, including an online customer service centre and mService, a mobile servicing plat-form available on Android, Black-berry, iOS and Windows devices. According to research carried out by GE Capital Retail Bank, the availability of finance drives the choice of retailer for 43% of con-sumers buying jewellery.

LaSer and Système U combine for introduction of new Visa card

In France, supermarket group Système U has launched the U Visa card in conjunction with finance firm LaSer, a specialised lending institution co-owned by BNP Paribas and Galeries Lafayette. The card comes linked to Système U's loyalty program and offers the con-venience of payments in instal-ments without fees. The card also includes a contactless function for small payments (below EUR 20).

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Achmea, 6 Adorn, 8 Aeroplan, 12 Aflac, 5 AIA, 6 ALA Insurance Brokers, 6 Alfa Romeo, 7 Alior Bank, 10 Allianz, 4, 6, 7 American Express, 10, 15 Apollo Insurance, 11 Aqua America, 4 Aria Assistance, 4 Assurant, 7 Asurion, 7, 8 Auto Italia, 7 Automobile Association of Kenya, 11 Autotrader, 6 Aviva, 6, 10 Baer, 18 Banco Popular, 9 Bank of America, 11 Bank Pocztowy, 10 Bank Zachodni WBK, 10 BankservAfrica, 16 BC Card, 16 Beazley, 4 Best Buy, 18 BGZ, 10 Blackberry, 18 BNL, 13, 14 BNP Paribas, 9, 11, 18 Boost, 15 BRAC Bank, 17 British Rowing, 6, 7 Ca’ Foscari University, 13 Caixa Econômica Federal, 17 CaixaBank, 17 Capita Insurance Distribution, 6 Capital One, 18 Carbase, 4 Card Services for Credit Unions, 14 Cardif, 9 CarGarantie, 7 Carrefour, 12, 13 Cars International, 8 Cencosud, 17 Cetelem Bank, 11 CIBC, 12 CIMB Niaga, 17 Citi Retail Services, 18 Citibank, 12, 13, 15, 18 CNV Vakcentrale, 6 Commercial Bank of Dubai, 12 Compumundo, 7 Couche-Tard, 17 Crédit Agricole, 11, 16 Credit Europe Bank, 12 Dai-Ichi Life, 9 Desjardins, 14 Direct Line, 9, 10 Discovery Holdings, 6 Domestic & General, 7 Egyptian Banks Company, 13, 14 Elite Rowing Insurance, 6, 7 Emergency Plus, 11 Equity Bank, 10, 11 eSewa, 15

Etisalat, 14 eTranzact, 15 Euler Hermes, 4, 5 Europ Assistance, 4, 9 Exchange and Mart, 6 ExxonMobil, 18 EZ-Link, 17 Fawry, 13 FGA Capital, 11 Fiat, 7, 11 Flight Centre, 9 FonePay, 15 Frontier Communications, 8 Frontier Secure, 7 Galeries Lafayette, 18 Garbarino, 7 GE Capital Retail Bank, 18 Geoswift Group, 16 Global Payments, 17 Google, 13 Grupo Espírito Santo, 4 Guangdong Lingnan Pass, 17 HDFC Bank, 12 Hino, 8 Home Emergency Insurance Solutions, 4 HomeServe, 4 HSBC, 4 ICBC, 13 ICICI Bank, 14 IKANO Group, 12 IKEA, 12 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, 13 Ipsos MediaCT, 13 Itaú Unibanco, 17 JACCS, 15, 16 Japan Post, 5 JCB, 16, 17 Jet Airways, 12 Kenyatta University, 10 KT Group, 16 Ktis, 16 LaSer, 18 Lloyds Bank, 14 Lovat Insurance Brokers, 7 LSG, 7 LV=, 6 Macy's, 18 Manulife Financial, 9 MAPFRE Asistencia, 8 Markerstudy Group, 6 MasterCard, 11, 13, 14 Mauritius Commercial Bank, 16 Meetings & Events Australia, 4 Mercedes-Benz, 7 Michael Debono, 8 Middlesea Assist, 8 Migros, 6 Monitise, 14 Movida, 14 Münchener Verein Versicherungsgruppe, 9 Nabil Bank, 15 National Bank of Egypt, 13, 14 Navigators and General, 7 Opel, 8 Orange, 12 Panin Bank, 10 Panin Life, 10 Phillips 66, 18

Phones 4u Finance, 7 Qantas, 11 QDOS, 4 RAC, 4 RBC Insurance, 9 RBS, 10 Rennies Travel, 9 Riot Games, 10 Ritani, 18 Royal Caribbean, 11 Russia Investment Bank, 16 Safaricom, 11 Saigon Commercial Bank, 9 Samsung, 7, 8, 14 Santam, 9 Santander, 10 Sberbank, 11, 15 Schweizerische Mobiliar, 6 Scotiabank, 17 SeABank, 9 Sears, 18 Shell, 18 Singapore Banking Corporation, 17 SINO Visitor Pass, 17 SIX Payment Services, 16 Smeg, 7 Société Générale, 16 Solid Försäkringar, 8 Sprint, 15 Staples, 18 Subaru, 7 Sure Travel, 9 Système U, 18 Ta Chong Bank, 17 TD Bank, 12 Telefónica, 14 Text Book Centre, 11 The Home Depot, 18 The Warranty Group, 7 Tianbao, 16 T-Mobile, 7 Toyota, 8 Tranquilidade, 4 Travel Insurance Consultants, 9 Triumph, 7 U.S. Bank, 15 UBIFRANCE, 5 UK General, 6 UnionPay, 13, 16 Universia, 7 Vieshow Cinemas, 13 Vietcombank, 9 Virgin Atlantic, 11 Virgin Mobile, 15 Visa, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 Volvo, 6 Watchdata, 17 Wells Fargo, 15 Western Union, 12, 13, 15 Wind, 14 Yandex, 15 Zenith Insurance, 6

Organisations in this issue

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About GAFC

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 partner-

ship 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 addi-

tion, it concentrates exclusively on

affinity and partnership marketing

strategy.

Affinity and partnership marketing

strategy is an important component of

general distribution strategy for a ma-

jority of large banks and insurance

companies serving consumers and

small businesses as successful partner-

ships 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

info@finaccord.com. Thereafter, each

quarter, we will send you a link to the

page of our website with fresh news

and future editions of this document.

About Finaccord

Finaccord is a leading market research, publishing and consulting company specializing in financial services. We provide our clients with insight with a particular focus on marketing and distribution strategies, including affin-ity and partnership marketing.

Our areas of expertise include: affinity and partnership marketing; automotive financial services; bancassurance; com-mercial non-life insurance brokers; consumer intelligence; creditor insur-ance; distribution channels; extended warranties; insurance and assistance linked to payment cards and bank accounts; mobile gadget and telephone insurance; retailer financial services; small business financial services; and travel insurance and assistance.

Our international network of consult-ants is able to deliver information quickly and accurately across a range of countries worldwide, basing re-search projects on robust data and knowledge rather than supposition and theory.

© Finaccord Ltd., 2013 Registered in London No. 4542931 The Office Farringdon 24 Greville Street London, EC1N 8SS

Phone: +44 20 3178 2556 Fax: +44 20 7198 7902 Email: info@finaccord.com www.finaccord.com

Does your organisation have

news about its affinity or part-

nership marketing relationships

that we missed in this newslet-

ter? To produce it, we system-

atically research close to 300

major financial services institu-

tions from around the world

each quarter. However, if you

would also like us to include

your company in this research,

please send an e-mail to analy-

sis@finaccord.com and we will

ensure that it is tracked in fu-

ture quarters.

To access the archive of news

from the Global Affinity Fi-

nance Club please visit

www.finaccord.com/afi

Finaccord’s latest published reports include:

Affinity and Partnership Marketing in UK Commercial Non-Life Insurance GBP 1,495

Affinity and Partnership Marketing in UK Legal Services GBP 1,495

Aggregation Metrics: Consumer Approaches to Online Insurance Comparison Sites in Europe GBP 2,995

Creditor Insurance in Latin America GBP 1,795

Global Bancassurance: Strategies of the World's Top 125 Retail Banking Groups GBP 2,995

Life Bancassurance in Latin America: Protection-Related Life Insurance GBP 1,795

Road Assistance in Europe GBP 2,995

Small Business Segments: Marketing Business Insurance to Major Professions and Trades in the UK GBP 3,995

Trade Credit Insurance in Europe GBP 2,995

Travel Insurance and Assistance in the Middle East GBP 1,795