AFFINITY INSURANCE

BANCASSURANCE

AFFINITY BANKING

Global Affinity

Finance Club

Finaccord’s newsletter about affinity financial services worldwide

Welcome back to your Club! There should be something for everyone in this latest edition of the Global Affinity Finance Club. In the sections about affinity insurance, items cover a broad range of new initiatives in affinity and partnership marketing including two about MAPFRE Asistencia in China and three from Swedish affinity specialist Solid Försäkringar. In the bancassurance arena, stand-out items include important di-vestments of formerly captive underwriters by HSBC in several countries and by KBC in Poland plus a new arrangement involving BBVA and Liberty Seguros in Spain. Finally, the ever-increasing number of partnerships in mobile pay-ments are most visible in the sections about affinity banking with key deals involving American Express and Lianlian Group in China, HDFC Bank and Movida in India, Visa and Vodafone on a world-wide basis, and Western Union and Wind in Italy. However, new ventures are also tracked in other fields such as automotive finance, co-branded cards, retailer cards and retailer finance. As ever, please get in contact if you would like us to include a new partnership involving your organisation in the next edition covering events in Spring 2012 With best regards, Alan Leach

Director aleach@finaccord.com

For our published reports, news and more please visit

www.finaccord.com

2012 WINTER

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Affinity Insurance News 4

ASSISTANCE 4

Britannia Rescue wins road assistance

mandate from Brightside Group 4

NKSJ Holdings to enter Japan’s assis-

tance services market 4

Road China Assistance broadens co-

operation with Dah Sing 4

Solid Försäkringar enters into partner-

ship with Vianor for road assistance 4

BUSINESS INSURANCE 4

Gras Savoye becomes risk management

partner for the food industry in France 4

Solid Försäkringar signs a contract with

Hantverksförening 4

Willis partners with US association of

senior living organisations 4

HEALTH INSURANCE 5

Catalan sports organisation renews acci-

dent and health partnership with AXA 5

Cigna and TTK Group prepare for

launch of joint venture health insurer 5

Confused.com launches new partnership

with ActiveQuote 5

MOTOR INSURANCE 5

Swiss automotive group starts collabo-

rating with Allianz 5

Volvo and HDI link again to sell motor

insurance in Germany 5

NICHE INSURANCE 5

AXA links with Moneo Payment Solu-

tions for new student-focused affinity

scheme 5

RSA secures pet insurance affinity deal

with Home Retail Group 6

Solid Försäkringar secures partners for

bicycle and missed event cover 6

PRODUCT INSURANCE / WAR-

RANTIES 6

Assurant Solutions secures exclusive

distribution contract with CARCHEX 6

MAPFRE Asistencia seals Chinese ex-

tended warranty tie with Toyota 6

SPB Italia extends its range of insurance

policies for Mediaworld and Saturn 6

TRAVEL INSURANCE 6

MAPFRE Asistencia wins distribution

in France through CEA deal 6

Solid Försäkringar wins travel insurance

mandate with Lingmerths 6

GENERAL 6

Chubb and Vistage International form

alliance to address CEO risks 6

Gallagher Heath secures affinity distri-

bution deal with UIA 7

Lifestyle Services Group extends added

value account tie with Co-operative

Bank 7

Manulife and RSA reaffirm long-

standing collaboration in Hong Kong 7

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Bancassurance News 7

LIFE INSURANCE / RETIREMENT

SAVINGS 7

Aviva winds down life insurance joint

venture with AIB 7

Legal & General cements partnership

with the Yorkshire 7

MOTOR INSURANCE 8

BBVA and Liberty Seguros co-operate

for motor insurance in Spain 8

GENERAL 8

HSBC sells off insurance businesses and

signs ten-year bancassurance deals 8

Future Generali Life Insurance Compa-

ny creates new bancassurance deal 8

MAPFRE acquires stake in bank-owned

non-life underwriter 8

Nordea and Tryg agree to re-negotiate

cross-selling partnership 8

KBC divests Polish bancassurance sub-

sidiary to Talanx 8

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Affinity Banking News 9

AFFINITY BANK ACCOUNTS 9

ADAC begins marketing savings prod-

ucts with DAB Bank 9

AFFINITY CARDS 9

Société Générale’s charity cards pay over

EUR 1 million since launch 9

Italian bank develops multi-function

university payment card 9

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AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE 9

Ally Financial named preferred finance

source for the Vehicle Production

Group 9

SsangYong selects GMAC as preferred

finance provider in the UK 9

BUSINESS BANKING 9

BNL enters into further commercial

affinity deals in Italy 9

CO-BRANDED CARDS 10

American Express creates new card

distribution deal with Banco Espírito

Santo... 10

... and ties with Morgan Stanley for co-

branded cards in the US 10

Bankia launches multi-function contact-

less card with Valencia transportation

agency 10

Bankia and BBVA launch contactless

Visa card in Madrid 10

Barclaycard launches co-branded card

with Portuguese fuel retail brand 10

Chase launches a new, premium credit

card for long-time partner Disney 10

MasterCard enters into five-year agree-

ment with prepaid card specialist 11

Santander extends commercial relation-

ship with Ferrari through to end 2017

11

Santander and Iberia Cards combine

for dual co-branded card program 11

MOBILE PAYMENTS 11

Afripay and Stanbic IBTC Bank link

with Globacom for mobile payments

11

American Express links with Chinese

mobile top-up provider 11

MasterCard ties with online mobile

payments specialist BOKU 11

MasterCard links with QNB, Qtel and

Oberthur Technologies for mobile pay-

ments in Qatar 12

MasterCard and Telefónica brand mo-

bile finance joint venture as ‘Wanda’ 12

MasterCard signs memorandum of

understanding with China Unicom sub-

sidiary 12

MasterCard launches partnership pro-

gram focused on under-banked con-

sumers 12

HDFC Bank co-operates with Movida

for mobile payment service in India 13

Visa certifies six new smartphone mod-

els for use with payWave 13

Orange ties with Visa for prepaid ac-

count features within Orange Money 13

Visa and Vodafone initiate worldwide

mobile payments partnership 14

Western Union enters into a strategic

partnership with Ericsson 14

Western Union and Millicom Interna-

tional Cellular link for mobile money

transfers 14

Western Union and Roshan introduce

mobile money transfers in Afghanistan

14

Western Union and Wind join forces to

provide mobile transfers 14

MONEY TRANSFERS 15

Wells Fargo and Western Union link

with Mexican retailer bank for interna-

tional remittances 15

Western Union ties with UniCredit for

remittance services 15

OFFLINE PAYMENTS 15

Wirecard Bank and Lekkerland expand

strategic payments alliance 15

RETAILER CARDS 15

Citi re-names US-based retailer credit

card division... 15

... and renews private label card deal

with fuel retail brand 15

Citibank and Big C Supercenter intro-

duce new Visa platinum card 15

GE Capital acquires Toys“R”Us card

program assets from JP Morgan

Chase... 16

... and renews private label card rela-

tionships with four retail chains 16

Scotiabank gains access to retailer card

portfolio through Banco Colpatria ac-

quisition 16

RETAILER FINANCE 16

BBVA and Huawei announce technolo-

gy finance partnership 16

GENERAL 16

BNP Paribas and Sberbank finalise

point-of-sale finance joint venture 16

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Affinity Insurance News

ASSISTANCE

Britannia Rescue wins road assistance mandate from Brightside Group

In the UK, Britannia Rescue, the road assistance subsidiary of LV=, has been appointed by Brightside Group to provide breakdown recovery insurance to road assistance customers within its broker division. The win has seen Bri-tannia Rescue take on around 90,000 existing Brightside customers from the start of February 2012 in the context of a book that consists of a range of vehicles including cars and motor cy-cles, as well as commercial fleet busi-ness. Policies underwritten by the fol-lowing Brightside brands are included: Commercial Vehicle Direct, Motor and Home Direct including One Bike, One Business Insurance Solutions, Taxi Direct and You Choose. Britannia Rescue believes that it is the fourth largest road assistance company in the UK operating a network of over 3,000 technicians.

NKSJ Holdings to enter Japan’s assistance services market

Japanese insurance group NKSJ Hold-ings – which is the parent company of general insurers NIPPONKOA and Sompo Japan, among others – has announced its decision to enter the assistance services market by launching a joint venture with Prestige Interna-tional, a large private-sector assistance services provider. The new company will be known as Prime Assistance and will initially focus on providing road-side assistance services linked to the motor insurance policies issued by NIPPONKOA and Sompo Japan. Pending the relevant official and regu-latory approvals, roadside assistance operations are expected to commence

in October 2012. In the longer term, the company will likely seek to extend its product offering to include other types of assistance, such as home assis-tance, that represent a natural fit with the group’s range of general insurance products.

Road China Assistance broadens co-operation with Dah Sing

In China, Road China Assistance, a breakdown recovery subsidiary of MAPFRE, has extended its co-operation agreement with local insurer Dah Sing. Specifically, it will provide road assistance to customers of Dah Sing with motor insurance policies plus an accident management service specifically designed for taxi drivers insured with the same company. Utilis-ing its growing network, Road China Assistance is offering services such as these to an increasing number of cli-ents in China including local insurers, other financial institutions and car manufacturer brands.

Solid Försäkringar enters into partnership with Vianor for road assistance

Solid Försäkringar has signed an agree-ment with Vianor to provide road as-sistance in Sweden. Vianor is a Nordic specialist in automotive aftermarket services with 79 workshops in Sweden and over 900 workshops across the Nordic countries and Russia com-bined.

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BUSINESS INSURANCE

Gras Savoye becomes risk management partner for the food industry in France

In France, ANIA (Association Natio-nale des Industries Alimentaires) and

Gras Savoye have signed an agreement to improve risk management in this industry. Gras Savoye will be the part-ner for ANIA for property and liability insurance, and will offer its expertise in risk management, information and training to members of ANIA; ANIA consists of 22 national federations by sector and 18 regional federations, that together represent over 10,000 compa-nies in the food industry of all sizes and specialities.

Solid Försäkringar signs a contract with Hantverks-förening

In Sweden, Solid Försäkringar has s i g n e d a n a g r e e m e n t w i t h the Hantverkarföreningen to offer business insurance to members of the craft association. In addition to insur-ance providers, Solid Försäkringar will also provide computer assistance ser-vices. Hantverkarföreningen represents over 4,000 entrepreneurs.

Willis partners with US asso-ciation of senior living organ-isations

Willis has announced a partnership with the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) to provide innovative insurance and risk management ser-vices to ALFA’s members. ALFA is the largest national association for professionally-operated, consumer-driven senior living communities.

Under the terms of the deal, Willis will be the sole endorsed risk management adviser, insurance broker and employ-ee benefits consulting partner for AL-FA and its members who will have access to the expertise and resources of the senior living practice group of Willis via a web-based portal.

This group has developed a number of specialised workers’ compensation and occupational risk control programs for this industry; its clients range from

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single location communities to large national providers, covering continu-ing care retirement communities, inde-pendent and assisted living communi-ties, Alzheimer’s care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and home healthcare organisations throughout North Amer-ica.

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HEALTH INSURANCE

Catalan sports organisation renews accident and health partnership with AXA

In Spain, AXA and the Catalan Feder-ation of Cycling (FCC) have renewed their agreement by means of which the insurer is providing accident insurance cover and medical insurance abroad to the federation itself, plus cycling clubs and cyclists who are members of the FCC. This scheme offers cyclists’ in-surance in excess of the mandatory level, and higher levels of cover for medical insurance; it is being managed through the broker Maresme 2.000.

Cigna and TTK Group pre-pare for launch of joint ven-ture health insurer

Cigna and Indian conglomerate TTK Group have unveiled further details concerning their joint venture to sell health insurance products across India. Headquartered in Mumbai, Cigna TTK will develop and sell a suite of prod-ucts and services including health ben-efits for expatriates, individual private medical insurance and supplemental accident and health products. Pending approval by India’s regulatory authori-ties, the joint venture is expected to begin operations in early 2013 and will build its workforce locally.

Confused.com launches new partnership with ActiveQuote

In the UK, Confused.com has entered a partnership with the health insurance comparison website ActiveQuote. This par tner sh ip wi l l power Con-fused.com’s private medical insurance comparison service thereby widening customer choice in this field. In addi-tion, Confused.com has added Aviva’s Quotemehappy.com to its list of mo-tor insurance supplies and unveiled a new three-month promotion with Nectar, the UK’s largest coalition loy-alty program.

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MOTOR INSURANCE

Swiss automotive group starts collaborating with Allianz

AMAG, the Swiss importer of the Audi, Seat, Škoda and Volkswagen brands has begun marketing motor insurance in co-operation with Allianz Suisse as part of an agreement reached in December 2011. As a result of the partnership, AMAG’s 80 tied dealer-ships and the 300 independent dealer-ships collaborating with AMAG are o f f e r i n g m o t o r i n s u r -ance intermediated by Volkswagen Versicherungsdienst (VVD) and un-derwritten by Allianz Suisse at the point of sale. At the time of the an-nouncement Allianz Suisse emphasised that the new partnership fits with the insurer’s growth strategy as a rising number of car buyers in Switzerland tend to take out insurance for their cars through dealerships.

Volvo and HDI link again to sell motor insurance in Ger-many

Volvo Car Germany, the importer of Volvo passenger cars in Germany, and HDI Direkt Versicherung, a subsidiary of Talanx, have reached an agreement

for the distribution of motor insurance through Volvo dealerships. In 2010, HDI Direkt had already started a part-nership with Volvo Auto Bank which was the car finance provider for Volvo in Germany at the time. When Volvo Car Germany changed its car finance partnership from Volvo Auto Bank to Santander Consumer Bank in late 2011 the marketing partnership with HDI Direkt became obsolete. The new agreement between Volvo Car Germa-ny and HDI Direkt therefore restores continuity from the point of view of Volvo’s customers.

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NICHE INSURANCE

AXA links with Moneo Pay-ment Solutions for new stu-dent-focused affinity scheme

Moneo Payment Solutions and AXA have a launched a new affinity scheme for students in France, called AXA Campus. This aims to offer to students insurance packages that they can buy online with a Moneo student card.

Nearly 1.5 million students in 22 uni-versities have a Moneo card, which they can use as an identity card, to pay for meals in university restaurants and cafeterias, at vending machines, for photocopies and for other small pur-chases. Now they can use it to buy insurance policies in the AXA Campus range, which consists of four packages designed for students’ needs (for ex-ample covering trips abroad, skiing holidays, losing keys, accidents and other risks), with suitable pricing. Mo-neo Payment Solutions and AXA plan to promote this through marketing initiatives including social networks, blogs and other Internet tools.

AXA Campus is only available via the internet and mobile phones, and stu-dents can pay online using their Mo-neo student card.

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RSA secures pet insurance affinity deal with Home Re-tail Group

In the UK, RSA has been appointed by the Home Retail Group as the sole provider of pet insurance for its Argos and Homebase retail brands. The part-nership, which has a duration of five years, commenced in January 2012 and means that both new and existing pet insurance customers of the two brands will be able to access a newly-developed product that provides them with benefits such as vet fees cover of up to GBP 7,500, third party liability cover of up to GBP 2 million; and access to Vetfone, a 24-hour hotline to qualified veterinary staff.

Solid Försäkringar secures p a r t n e r s f o r b i c y c l e and missed event cover

In Sweden, Solid Försäkringar and bicycle retail chain Tvåhjulmästar-na have established a relationship by means of which Solid will provide bicycle insurance to Tvåhjulmästarna shops and their customers. In addi-tion, Solid Försäkringar and sports tour operator EuroTravel Sports have entered into an agreement through which the latter will promote S o l i d ’ s m i s s e d e v e n t c o v -e r t o i t s c u s t o m e r s . E u -ro Travel Sports was founded in 1999and is today one of Sweden’s larg-est tour operators specialising in sport events.

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PRODUCT INSURANCE / WARRANTIES

Assurant Solutions secures exclusive distribution con-tract with CARCHEX

In the US, Assurant Solutions, a global provider of extended service contracts,

and CARCHEX, an online provider of extended warranties for vehicles, have disclosed an exclusive strategic part-nership to benefit customers and cli-ents of both companies. For Assurant Solutions, the agreement provides its customers and clients with access to the online capabilities of CARCHEX, including proprietary technology and other services from a company active in the provision of extended vehicle protection directly to consumers for over a decade. In return, the strategic partnership provides CARCHEX with a modest infusion of capital to acceler-ate growth and further strengthen its brand.

MAPFRE Asistencia seals Chinese extended warranty tie with Toyota

In China, MAPFRE Asistencia has announced the creation of an agree-ment with Toyota for the distribution of extended warranty products. MAP-FRE Asistencia has been present in China since 2005 with operations headquartered in Shanghai.

SPB Italia extends its range of insurance policies for Me-diaworld and Saturn

As the insurance provider for the two brands owned by Metro, SPB Italia has previously offered insurance and war-ranty policies for televisions and phones sold in 110 Mediaworld and Saturn shops. Since the end of 2011 it has also offered an ‘outdoor protec-tion’ policy for mobile gadgets exclud-ing laptop PCs, which insures these goods against theft and accidental damage.

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TRAVEL INSURANCE

MAPFRE Asistencia wins distribution in France through CEA deal

In France, MAPFRE Asistencia has reported that it has concluded a strate-gic alliance with Compagnie Euro-peenne d’Assurances (CEA) whereby the former will take on responsibility for management and underwriting of travel insurance policies sold by the latter mainly through travel trade enti-ties. In addition, more than 50 staff currently employed by CEA will be transferred to MAPFRE Asistencia.

Solid Försäkringar wins travel insurance mandate with Lingmerths

In Sweden, Solid Försäkringar and Lingmerths have entered into a part-nership by means of which the insurer will provide comprehensive travel in-surance to the customers of Ling-merths. This company was established in 1950 and is currently active across a variety of travel-related activities with a particular specialisation in business travel.

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GENERAL

Chubb and Vistage Interna-tional form alliance to ad-dress CEO risks

Insurance group Chubb and Vistage International, an association of private company chief executives with over 14,000 members worldwide, have formed an alliance to help the associa-tion’s members to address personal and commercial risk management needs. As part of the alliance, Chubb will provide Vistage members with risk management education, programs and

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access to an array of products and services tailored to their needs.

Chubb will offer a selection of services and benefits to Vistage members, in-cluding an annual premium reimburse-ment of up to 10% of the premium for an employment practices liability poli-cy, for using one of more than 120 Chubb pre-approved law firms, human resources consulting firms or labour economist statistical firms for loss mitigation and prevention services; up to six free employee background inves-tigations; one free hour of workplace violence consulting per incident, up to four times per year; a 50% credit on approved vendor safety training; and a 10% credit on corporate business trav-el accident policies.

Gallagher Heath secures af-finity distribution deal with UIA

In the UK, Gallagher Heath Insurance Services (GHIS) has disclosed the cre-ation of a five-year partnership with UIA to provide motor and travel in-surance to members of the UK’s lead-ing trade unions. Launched in January 2012, both products are being provid-ed and serviced through the affinity broker’s call centre in Wakefield. Mo-tor insurance is being sourced from a panel of underwriters and UIA’s cus-tomers are also receiving a 40% dis-count on breakdown recovery insur-ance from RAC. Meanwhile, the travel insurance proposition allows custom-ers to tailor cover specific to their trav-el needs, simultaneously providing a comparison for single trip and annual policies.

Lifestyle Services Group ex-tends added value account tie with Co-operative Bank

Also in the UK, Lifestyle Services Group has announced the extension of its contract with the Co-operative Bank for insurance linked to the bank’s

added value accounts. Having already been in place for three years, the new agreement will see Lifestyle Services Group continue to provide forms of cover such as breakdown recovery insurance, mobile gadget and phone insurance, and travel insurance as im-portant features of these accounts.

Manulife and RSA reaffirm long-standing collaboration in Hong Kong

After 18 years of bancassurance collab-oration in Hong Kong, Manulife and RSA (Royal & SunAlliance) have an-nounced the renewal of their general insurance distribution agreement for another five years. Under the extended agreement, RSA will continue to be Manulife’s major general insurance partner. Manulife distributes a broad range of customised, co-branded per-sonal lines insurance products under-written by RSA, including travel insur-ance, domestic helper insurance and pet insurance. A business insurance package is also available to protect small and medium-sized companies against unexpected losses arising from property damage, burglary, fire and other eventualities.

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Bancassurance News

LIFE INSURANCE / RE-TIREMENT SAVINGS

Aviva winds down life insur-ance joint venture with AIB

Aviva has revealed that its Ark Life joint venture for life insurance and pensions with Irish bank AIB will dis-continue business in its current format. It has also stated that it is exploring the possibility of extending and continuing elements of the distribution and ad-ministration business during the sepa-ration process and that it will work closely with AIB over the coming months to agree the separation pro-cess. Following that, employees cur-rently supporting the Ark Life business will transfer to AIB or an agreed pro-vider. Nevertheless, AIB continues to act as a partner to Aviva for motor and health insurance.

Legal & General cements partnership with the York-shire

In the UK, Legal & General has ex-tended its relationship with the York-shire Building Society with the former establishing itself as the latter’s main provider of financial service advice and products. In recent years, the York-shire has grown significantly as a result of three mergers (with the Barnsley, Chelsea and Norwich & Peterborough building societies) plus the acquisition of the mortgage and savings books of Egg, an online bank. Legal & General was already providing financial advice in the Barnsley and Yorkshire branded branches and contact centres and this partnership will now be rolled out to the Chelsea branches and contact cen-tre later in 2012. The two partners anticipate taking advantage of oppor-tunities thrown up by the Retail Distri-

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bution Review (RDR) which is sched-uled for January 2013.

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MOTOR INSURANCE

BBVA and Liberty Seguros co-operate for motor insur-ance in Spain

In Spain, Liberty Seguros has disclosed the creation of an agreement with BBVA Seguros (the bancassurance subsidiary of BBVA) focused on the co-insurance and distribution of motor insurance over a ten-year period begin-ning in September 2012. Specifically, the two companies will collaborate to design motor insurance policies adapted to different client needs with Liberty Seguros responsible for aspects of service provision including claims management and roadside assistance. Policies will be sold through BBVA’s various distribution channels, including its network of more than 3,000 branches.

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GENERAL

HSBC sells off insurance businesses and signs ten-year bancassurance deals

As part of the bank’s on-going strategy to externalise its general insurance businesses and focus on its core bank-ing activities, HSBC has agreed to sell around USD 1.2 billion worth of its general insurance subsidiaries to AXA and QBE. In combined deals worth around USD 444 million, AXA will acquire various HSBC businesses in Asia, Hong Kong, Mexico and Singa-pore. QBE, on the other hand, will acquire HSBC’s Argentine general insurance operations for USD 784

million. In a related deal, QBE will also acquire Hang Seng General Insur-ance (Hong Kong) from Hang Seng Bank, in which HSBC holds a 62% equity stake.

Following completion of these sales, new ten-year bancassurance partner-ships between the various HSBC bank-ing brands (including Hang Seng Bank) and AXA and QBE will come into force. AXA will become the exclusive provider of general insurance products distributed by HSBC’s banks to cus-tomers in China (other than customers of Hang Seng Bank and HSBC's Chi-nese rural banks), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia (other than customers of Bank Ekonomi Raharja) and Singa-pore, and also non-life products dis-tributed by HSBC’s banks to custom-ers in Mexico. Under similar arrange-ments, QBE will become the exclusive provider of general insurance products distributed by banks belonging to HSBC to customers in Argentina and by Hang Seng Bank to customers in China and Hong Kong.

Future Generali Life Insur-ance Company creates new bancassurance deal

In India, Future Generali Life Insur-ance Company and Karnataka State Co-operative Apex Bank have announced a bancassurance partnership to provide an array of insurance protection ser-vices to customers. Future Generali is a joint venture between the Future Group of India and Generali. This partnership will allow Future General-i’s insurance products to be distributed to the Indian bank’s customers in the Karnataka area.

MAPFRE acquires stake in bank-owned non-life under-writer

In Spain, Bankinter and MAPFRE

have reached an agreement for the eventual purchase by the latter of a 50.1% stake in Bankinter Seguros Generales, a non-life underwriter ac-tive in insurance for businesses plus creditor, funeral expenses and health insurance. Policies will be distributed through all of Bankinter’s channels and managed on a day-to-day basis by Bankinter although the company will continue not to operate in the motor, household or travel branches.

Nordea and Tryg agree to re-negotiate cross-selling part-nership

In Scandinavia, Nordea and Tryg have been co-operating for more than ten years in the field of bancassurance and have announced that the current part-nership agreement is to be bench-marked and re-negotiated before it terminates in mid-2013. Tryg’s non-life insurance products are offered by Nordea in the four Nordic countries while Nordea’s life and pensions prod-ucts are offered by Tryg in Denmark and Norway. The partnership agree-ment between Nordea and Tryg will continue unaffected until the agree-ment expires in mid-2013.

KBC divests Polish bancas-surance subsidiary to Talanx

KBC has reached an agreement with Talanx International for the sale of 100% of the shares of KBC’s Polish insurance subsidiary TUiR Warta for EUR 770 million. Closing of the trans-action is subject to the customary regu-latory approvals and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2012.

The existing bancassurance collabora-tion between Warta and Kredyt Bank (KBC’s banking subsidiary in Poland) regarding the distribution of Warta’s life and non-life insurance products through the Kredyt Bank branch net-

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work, will remain in place for the fore-seeable future.

Kredyt Bank itself is the subject of a separate divestment process, and is being merged with Banco Santander’s Polish banking subsidiary, Bank Zachodni WBK. Following the pro-posed merger, Santander will hold approximately 76.5% of the merged bank and KBC around 16.4%. The rest will be held by other minority share-holders. KBC intends to sell off its remaining stake, mostly to external investors although Santander has also committed to acquire up to 5% of the merged bank to assist KBC’s exit from Poland.

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Affinity Banking News

AFFINITY BANK AC-COUNTS

ADAC begins marketing sav-ings products with DAB Bank

ADAC, Germany’s largest automotive association, has partnered up with DAB Bank for the marketing of sav-ings products. Munich-based DAB is a direct bank owned by the UniCredit group. The two partners will offer three products, namely ADAC Flex-Sparen, ADAC Führerschein-Sparen and ADAC Traum-Sparen to ADAC’s 17.8 million members. Previously, ADAC was offering savings products in collaboration with Deutsche Bank.

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AFFINITY CARDS

Société Générale’s charity cards pay over EUR 1 million since launch

The success of charity payment cards in France can be measured by news from Société Générale for 2011. Socié-té Générale was an early leader in the issue of charity-related cards, which it first launched in May 2008. By the end of 2011, it had issued 66,000 of these cards in support of 22 organisations, with the Emmaüs Solidarité associa-tion scheduled to be the next. It pays these charities EUR 0.05 for every transaction, and these donations had exceeded EUR 1 million by the end of 2011 – with almost EUR 500,000 of this amount paid in 2011 alone.

Italian bank develops multi-function university payment card

In Italy, UBI Banca and the Università Carlo Cattaneo have created a multi-function payment card designed for use by both staff and students for banking and university-related services. The card uses contactless technology and can be used both within the cam-pus as well as in both national and international contexts.

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AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE

Ally Financial named pre-ferred finance source for the Vehicle Production Group

The Vehicle Production Group (VPG) which manufactures and distributes vehicles that are accessible to wheel-chairs has chosen Ally Financial as its preferred financing provider in the US.

Ally Financial will offer wholesale fi-nancing, business insurance and re-marketing services for VPG dealers as well as retail financing for their cus-tomers. In the US, Ally Financial is already the preferred financing provid-er for Chrysler, Fiat, General Motors, Maserati, Saab and Suzuki vehicles.

SsangYong selects GMAC as preferred finance provider in the UK

SsangYong Motor in the UK has se-lected GMAC, a subsidiary of US-based Ally Financial, to be its preferred financing provider for SsangYong ve-hicles. GMAC will provide wholesale financing for SsangYong’s 54 dealers and motor finance for customers. GMAC is already the preferred finance source for Chevrolet, Saab and Vaux-hall dealers and their customers in the UK, as well as the accredited provider of consumer financing for MG vehi-cles.

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BUSINESS BANKING

BNL enters into further com-mercial affinity deals in Italy

In Italy, several new agreements have been established by BNL with trade associations with the aim of providing finance to small and medium-sized enterprises. Firstly, BNL has estab-lished a partnership with Confagricol-tura, a national federation of agricul-tural businesses, which includes the provision of finance worth up to EUR 1 billion. Secondly, the same bank is working in a similar context with Lega-coop, an association with around 14,000 members, all of which are co-operatives. In a separate deal, BNL is providing EUR 10 million to support around 1,200 enterprises in the service and tourism sectors that belong to

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Mediocom Liguria, a regional associa-tion.

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CO-BRANDED CARDS

American Express creates new card distribution deal with Banco Espírito Santo...

In Portugal, American Express and Banco Espírito Santo, have unveiled a new partnership that will enable Banco Espírito Santo to issue its own range of American Express credit cards in Portugal. The new cards issued by Banco Espírito Santo will be designed to meet the financial requirements and lifestyles of its customers and will fea-ture both the American Express and Banco Espírito Santo logos on the front of the cards. Under the terms of the agreement, Banco Espírito Santo will be responsible for creating the products, issuing the cards, overseeing credit management and managing the customer accounts.

... and ties with Morgan Stan-ley for co-branded cards in the US

In the US, American Express and Morgan Stanley have combined for the launch of two co-branded cards, one of which carries platinum status. The new cards offer exclusive benefits for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney clients with eligible brokerage accounts and access to the Membership Rewards program of American Express. Key features also include the opportunity to earn bonus Membership Rewards points for the first USD 1,000 of ex-penditure with the cards. According to Morgan Stanley, the new cards ad-vance its commitment to serving its clients' wealth management needs, including investment, credit and cash management, in a comprehensive fash-

ion.

Bankia launches multi-function contactless card with Valencia transportation agency

In Spain, in collaboration with the Agencia Valenciana de Movilidad (aVM), Bankia has launched the Bankia Mobilis card which allows both the purchase of tickets and storage of transport information on a contactless payment card. The card will be usable on metro trains, trams and buses in Valencia as well as for bicycle hire, with ongoing discussions to expand the program to commuter trains serv-ing Valencia. The Bankia Mobilis card will also act as a normal debit card, as well as featuring contactless payment technology allowing payments up to EUR 20 at merchants equipped with a contactless card reader, with no need for a signature or PIN. Payments over EUR 20 may still be made using con-tactless functionality but require PIN authentication.

Bankia and BBVA launch contactless Visa card in Ma-drid

Bankia and BBVA, collaborating with Visa Europe, have developed a con-tactless Visa card for the use of both banks’ customers in Spain. The cards work on a network of 7,000 new con-tactless terminals, used by merchants in and around Madrid, with a special focus on establishments with a high percentage of low-value transactions, such as fast food outlets, bars, cafés or restaurants. The cards allow for trans-actions up to EUR 20 without the need to enter a PIN or provide a signa-ture; payments for amounts over EUR 20 may be authorised with a PIN. The banks’ stated goal is to bring contact-less cards to 2 million customers by the end of 2012.

Barclaycard launches co-branded card with Portu-guese fuel retail brand

Barclaycard and Cepsa, one of the largest energy and oil companies in Portugal and Spain, have launched a new co-branded credit card in the for-mer country. The Cepsa Porque EU Volto card offers users a discount of between 4% and 5% on petrol pur-chases and also awards points to cus-tomers equivalent to 1% of all pur-chases, which can be used in exchange for additional discounts on petrol, and gifts and services from Cepsa.

Chase launches a new, premi-um credit card for long-time partner Disney

Chase has extended its collaboration with The Walt Disney Company by introducing a premium co-branded credit card (the Disney Premier Visa card), which will be linked to the Dis-ney Reward Dollars loyalty scheme. Chase has been issuing and managing a regular co-branded credit card for Dis-ney since 2003, although the arrival of this premium version – whose annual fee is USD 49 – will allow cardholders to earn reward points at double the normal rate. Disney Dream Reward Dollars can be redeemed against Dis-ney hotel stays, theme park tickets, cruises, movie tickets and merchan-dise. Points earned via the premium cards can also be used to fund air trav-el, and the cards feature complimen-tary travel accident insurance along with cover for delayed baggage. Fur-thermore, premium cardholders will qualify for additional perks within the group’s theme parks, resorts and retail locations, including private meet-and-greet sessions with Disney characters.

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MasterCard enters into five-year agreement with prepaid card specialist

With a focus on Europe, MasterCard and Vincento Payment Solutions have extended their relationship by signing a new five-year strategic agreement, which will see continued collaboration to develop prepaid solutions. Indeed, from March 2012 onwards, the exclu-sive partnership has enabled all new customers with Kalixa prepaid cards to benefit from MasterCard’s PayPass technology. Vincento is one of the first issuers of prepaid cards to introduce the new technology and plans to roll it out across the whole of Europe.

Santander extends commer-cial relationship with Ferrari through to end 2017

Santander has announced that its com-mercial agreement with Ferrari has been extended to the end of 2017. This relationship entails a number of activities including not only the bank’s sponsorship of the prestige vehicle brand’s Formula 1 motor racing opera-tions but also the management of co-branded Ferrari credit cards which have been launched in Brazil, Germa-ny, Mexico, Portugal and Spain with more than 300,000 cards having been issued.

Santander and Iberia Cards combine for dual co-branded card program

In Spain, Santander has launched co-branded American Express and Mas-terCard cards in association with Iberia Cards, a card issuing entity part-owned by airline Iberia. This is the first time that dual cards have been made availa-ble in Spain that carry both payment brands and guarantee maximum ac-ceptance around the world. The cards

are also linked to Iberia’s loyalty pro-gram, incorporate a variety of travel insurance and assistance benefits and generate a single card statement, irre-spective of which card is being used.

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MOBILE PAYMENTS

Afripay and Stanbic IBTC Bank link with Globacom for mobile payments

In Nigeria, mobile operator Globacom has announced that it has teamed up with United Bank of Africa (via its subsidiary Afripay) and Stanbic IBTC Bank to launch the country’s first mo-bile money service, called GloTxtcash. The new service enables mobile sub-scribers to use their mobile numbers to store money, which can be transferred to any mobile number or used to pay for goods, as well as to buy airtime for themselves and others. The service is planned to be available across the whole of the country in line with the Nigerian government’s objective of enhancing financial inclusion through a secure, convenient and reliable mo-bile money accounts.

American Express links with Chinese mobile top-up pro-vider

American Express has announced an operating agreement with Lianlian Group which will allow the mobile top-up provider to use Serve, a next-generation commerce technology, in products and services it develops for its consumer and business customers in China.

The Serve platform, which American Express will license to Lianlian Group, is expected to help power a new Lian-lian Group digital wallet that consum-

ers can use to top up mobile phone minutes, pay bills and purchase prod-ucts or services. American Express has also made an equity investment in Lianlian Pay, an overseas company within the Lianlian Group.

Founded in 2004, Lianlian Group has served approximately 300 million mo-bile phone accounts. It operates a net-work of over 300,000 small business agents across China where customers can top up minutes on their mobile phones. A portion of that network also facilitates customer payments for air-line tickets, utility bills and video gam-ing credits. American Express intends to work closely with Lianlian Group to better serve both agents and consum-ers in China by delivering a convenient digital payment technology.

Moreover, with Serve powering its new digital wallet, Lianlian Group ex-pects to offer customers a fast and convenient way to handle day-to-day transactions, beginning with mobile top-up minutes and over time expand-ing into other financial products and services. It anticipates that it will also help to build new business for local merchants.

MasterCard ties with online mobile payments specialist BOKU

MasterCard has announced a partner-ship with BOKU, a provider of online mobile payments, that aims to enhance the shopping experience for consum-ers by allowing them to make pay-ments, receive discounts and targeted offers, and monitor spending via their mobile phones anywhere that Master-Card is accepted. Offered through a mobile subscriber’s mobile network operator, BOKU accounts with a Mas-terCard prepaid functionality endow consumers with a convenient way of paying while travelling. Specifically, account holders use a MasterCard pre-

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paid card or PayPass-enabled device to make contactless purchases anywhere that MasterCard is accepted. The pre-paid card is issued by IDT, a regulated bank based in Gibraltar.

MasterCard links with QNB, Qtel and Oberthur Technolo-gies for mobile payments in Qatar

In Qatar, MasterCard is collaborating with Oberthur Technologies, Qatar National Bank (QNB) and Qtel for the country’s first mobile payments pro-gram using its PayPass contactless NFC technology. In essence, the initia-tive means that customers of QNB and Qtel in Qatar who use the new Qtel NFC SIM will soon be able to use their mobile phone as a credit card, having been given the option to either leverage an existing mobile phone with PayPass NFC capability and sign up for a Qtel SIM card, or upgrade their phone to one of the latest Blackberry models to utilise the payments service embedded on the new SIM.

QNB customers will also be given an extra option of obtaining a sticker equipped with PayPass technology to fix to their existing mobile phone in order to make payments if they do not have one with the requisite functionali-ty. Oberthur Technologies, which pro-vides QNB’s chip personalisation ser-vice, is working closely with the vari-ous parties to develop the payments application on the Qtel NFC-enabled SIM and on the MasterCard PayPass sticker. QNB customers will be able to link their mobile phone to their Mas-terCard credit card account in order to fund mobile payments and neither physical signatures nor PINs are re-quired for purchases of QAR 100 or less.

MasterCard and Telefónica brand mobile finance joint venture as ‘Wanda’

MasterCard and Telefónica have an-nounced that their joint venture com-pany that aims to lead the develop-ment of mobile financial solutions in 12 markets in Latin America will be branded as Wanda, using ‘Tu dinero móvil’ as its tagline. The two partners anticipate that this company will pro-vide mobile payment solutions to over 87 million Movistar customers in the 12 markets where it will operate. These mobile payment services will be linked to a mobile wallet or prepaid account that will allow for money transfers, mobile airtime reload, bill payment and retail purchases, among other services.

MasterCard signs memoran-dum of understanding with China Unicom subsidiary

In China, MasterCard has signed a memorandum of understanding with Unicom Payment to explore future business collaboration with a focus on mobile payments. Unicom Payment is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Unicom and provides long-distance and NFC payment services to its indi-vidual customers, as well as payment solutions and payment settlement management services to its corporate customers to assist them in the man-agement of funds and information flow.

MasterCard launches partner-ship program focused on un-der-banked consumers

Also in the field of mobile payments, MasterCard has announced a global initiative called the MasterCard Mobile Money Partnership Program with the intention of helping more than 2.5 billion financially under-served con-

sumers worldwide to gain access to formal financial services through their mobile phones. In this context, it is working with three platform partners - Comviva, Sybase 365 and Utiba - to enable consumers to purchase goods and services via their mobile phones across both physical and online mer-chants worldwide, as well as to pay bills and transfer funds.

According to MasterCard, only about a half of the world’s households have bank accounts, with this proportion falling in developing markets, although around 70% of consumers worldwide have a mobile phone.

By working with Comviva, Sybase 365 and Utiba, the first companies to join the program, MasterCard aims to help both financial institutions and mobile telecoms operators to accelerate and expand the development of financial services offerings to customers. In-deed, the mobile money solutions of Comviva, Sybase 365 and Utiba are installed or deployed by more than 200 financial institutions and mobile opera-tors around the world covering more than one billion consumers.

The Mobile Money Partnership Pro-gram offers consumers the following MasterCard services: prepaid compan-ion cards that account holders can use at merchants that accept MasterCard cards; virtual card accounts that can be used for e-commerce payments with a user’s mobile money account; person-to-person payments between subscrib-ers of two different mobile money services; and face-to-face or remote payments using mobile phones for goods and services at merchants that do not have traditional point-of-sale acceptance facilities.

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HDFC Bank co-operates with Movida for mobile pay-ment service in India

In India, Movida, a mobile payments joint venture backed by Monitise and Visa, has signed an agreement with HDFC Bank, India's second-largest private bank, to introduce a first-of-its-kind mobile payment service. The new service allows HDFC Bank customers to pay bills, top up prepaid airtime and buy tickets from their mobile phone and is designed to operate across all mobile networks using both Visa and other payment accounts. It can be used anywhere by any mobile subscriber and accessed even by basic handset models.

The new service uses menu-based USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) mobile technology mak-ing it one of the easiest and most wide-ly-available services to use. After link-ing their HDFC Bank payment cards to their mobile phone number, card-holders can access the service via USSD over Movida's secure connec-tion. Then, they can select the payment service required and complete the pay-ment. The system encompasses vari-ous security measures to maintain ac-count integrity, including a unique PIN number set up on the phone to access the account information.

Visa certifies six new smartphone models for use with payWave

Working together, Visa and Visa Eu-rope have announced that certain Blackberry, LG and Samsung NFC-enabled smartphones have been certi-fied for use with payWave, Visa's mo-bile application for payments at the point-of-sale, thus joining other Visa-compliant payment products available for commercial deployment by finan-cial institutions. The smartphones in

question are the BlackBerry BoldTM 9900, the BlackBerry Bold 9790, the BlackBerry CurveTM 9360, the Black-Berry Curve 9380, the LG Optimus NET NFC and the Samsung Galaxy SII. All of the new devices certified by Visa host the Visa payWave applica-tion on a secure SIM card and feature NFC technology. Visa's certification of these smartphones paves the way for mobile device manufacturers, mobile operators and retailers to partner with financial institutions to offer Visa’s mobile payment functionality to con-sumers on a global basis.

On a related note, Visa has also dis-closed the development of a new ser-vice that provides financial institutions and mobile network operators with a one-stop solution to securely down-load payment account information to smartphones enabled with NFC tech-nology. The new service was devel-oped in collaboration with Oberthur Technologies whose software and plat-forms are used to manage the provi-sioning and activation of payment ac-counts on cards and mobile devices.

Specifically, the new offering brings together the necessary parties in the mobile payments eco-system and lays the foundation for financial services providers and mobile network opera-tors to securely and efficiently link V i s a p a y m e n t a c c o u n t s t o smartphones, while also offering a solution to manage those accounts following activation.

Moreover, it addresses a crucial need for Visa account issuers, mobile opera-tors and others who want to enable mobile payments. The next stage of the product, an interconnectivity ‘hub’, will enable frictionless ‘many-to-many’ interactions avoiding the need for par-ties to form bilateral commercial and technical relationships, even for enti-ties using other TSM (Trusted Service Management) solutions.

A typical consumer experience to pro-vision a smartphone for payments may include the following steps: the con-sumer purchases an NFC-equipped mobile phone that has passed Visa's compliance testing, from their choice of operator; the consumer contacts the financial institution that issued the Visa account or responds to an offer from a service provider or operator, asking to activate mobile payments with the smartphone; Visa's mobile provisioning solution then links the appropriate parties and begins the pro-cess of provisioning the mobile phone for payment which involves authenti-cation of the account holder by re-questing a passcode, facilitation of the exchange of secure ‘keys’ among the various parties that unlock the NFC-enabled chip on the smartphone; and initiation of the secure download of payment account information to the smartphone.

Orange ties with Visa for pre-paid account features within Orange Money

In partnership with Visa, Orange has revealed that its Orange Money cus-tomers will soon have access to Visa prepaid account features inside their Orange Money accounts. This consti-tutes a significant step in bringing Visa-quality payments to consumers in developing markets.

Orange Money is the mobile payment service designed by Orange to meet the needs of customers in Africa and the Middle East. It offers Orange sub-scribers applications such as person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and agent-based cash-in and cash-out ser-vices for loading or withdrawing funds. Launched in co-operation with local bank partners, the service was first introduced in 2008 and is presently available in eight countries across Afri-ca and the Middle East. Orange plans to introduce Visa payment capability to

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Orange Money subscribers in select markets by the end of 2012.

By integrating Visa mobile prepaid accounts into Orange Money accounts, Orange is connecting existing mobile money subscribers to VisaNet, Visa's global payment network that is utilised by around 2.2 billion account holders plus 30 million merchants and that provides access to 1.9 million ATMs globally. Working together on a multi-national basis, Orange and Visa will provide Orange subsidiaries and their local financial institution partners with the ability to offer all the features of Visa mobile prepaid accounts to their customers, including Visa payment functionality, transaction authorisation, clearing and settlement services, and Visa-quality payment security.

Visa and Vodafone initiate worldwide mobile payments partnership

Visa has entered into a global partner-ship with Vodafone focused on mobile payments. The companies have dis-closed that they will work together to develop a Vodafone-branded proposi-tion that will be offered to consumers across Vodafone's base of almost 400 million customers in more than 30 countries. The partnership, which the two companies claim to be the largest of its kind between a global payment brand and mobile operator, combines the companies' global reach and exper-tise to bring Visa payment functionali-ty to consumers around the world.

Specifically, the new Vodafone mobile payment proposition will be based on the Visa prepaid account and offered to consumers in partnership with Visa issuers. The service will initially be launched in Germany, the Nether-lands, Spain, Turkey and the UK, start-ing in 2012, and other countries in Vodafone's global portfolio will fol-low.

In addition to the Vodafone-branded stored value account inside the mobile wallet, the two partners will work to-gether to enable Visa issuers for mo-bile payments globally. It is intended that the platform will be open to all partners within the relevant industries, enabling financial institutions, retailers, transport and utility companies to host their services within the new Vodafone mobile wallet.

Western Union enters into a strategic partnership with Er-icsson

Western Union and Ericsson have announced a strategic agreement de-signed to accelerate integration be-tween the m-commerce eco-system and the existing financial world. The first step of this agreement will result in platform integration between the Western Union mobile money transfer network and the Ericsson suite of m-commerce solutions. This will enable mobile network operators to include Western Union’s mobile money trans-fers in the service suite of their mobile financial service propositions. Ericsson and Western Union plan next to jointly explore further opportunities in the provision of mobile financial services by mobile network operators.

Western Union and Millicom International Cellular link for mobile money transfers

Western Union and Millicom Interna-tional Cellular, a mobile operator in 13 markets in Latin America and Africa operating under the Tigo brand, have announced the signing of an agree-ment to introduce cross-border mobile money transfers in Latin America. The first cross-border money transfer ser-vice under this agreement will be launched in Paraguay using the Giros Tigo brand. Tigo will then be able to offer its customers in Paraguay the

ability to receive money across borders using their mobile phones. The service will be rolled out over time in other markets in Latin America.

Western Union and Roshan introduce mobile money transfers in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, Western Union and Roshan, a telecoms group, have an-nounced that they will introduce the Western Union mobile money transfer service. Specifically, the agreement will add international remittances to the M-Paisa service already offered by Roshan. In fact, having started provid-ing the service in November 2008, Roshan was one of the first mobile operators to introduce M-Paisa, which is part of the Vodafone mobile money family. Through M-Paisa, 1.2 million registered customers can receive their salaries, pay bills, receive and repay microfinance loans, send and receive money, and purchase airtime directly from their mobile phones. With the introduction of the new service, M-Paisa customers will be able to receive Western Union money transfers from around the world directly in their mo-bile wallet accounts.

Western Union and Wind join forces to provide mobile transfers

In Italy, Western Union and Wind, one of the country’s largest mobile opera-tors, have entered into a partnership to offer mobile transfers. Specifically, Wind’s 21 million subscribers will be able to send Western Union money transfer transactions directly from their phones using the operator’s suite of services that include SMS and a variety of apps. Customers will be able to send money from prepaid, credit and debit cards allowing recipients to pick up their funds in cash at more than 450,000 Western Union agent loca-

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tions in 200 countries around the world.

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MONEY TRANSFERS

Wells Fargo and Western Un-ion link with Mexican retailer bank for international remit-tances

Wells Fargo has expanded its Ex-pressSend remittance network through an agreement with Mexico City-based Banco Azteca, part of Grupo Elektra. This agreement will extend Wells Far-go’s payment distribution network to Banco Azteca and Elektra’s 2,461 loca-tions in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru. Wells Fargo ExpressSend customers now have more than 40,200 remittance pay-out locations to send money to 15 countries in Asia and Latin America. In 2011 alone, Wells Fargo added 12,600 pay-out locations, a 46% increase. In addition, Western Union has renewed and expanded its agreement for a similar service with the same organisation having originally started co-operating with it in this field in 1993.

Western Union ties with UniCredit for remittance ser-vices

In Italy, a new partnership between Western Union and Unicredit will al-low the bank’s customers to access a service whereby remittances can be sent directly from bank accounts. Spe-cifically, UniCredit customers will be able to transfer money via online and telephone banking, and by means of around 7,800 ATMs and 4,000 multi-functional kiosks to over 450,000 Western Union locations worldwide. Western Union has already entered into around 80 other similar agree-

ments with banking institutions world-wide.

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OFFLINE PAYMENTS

Wirecard Bank and Lekker-land expand strategic pay-ments alliance

In Germany, Wirecard Bank, and Lek-kerland are expanding their existing strategic alliance for prepaid products and online payment processing. The companies have developed a new pay-ment means for the German market together with Berlin-based EZV Ge-sellschaft für Zahlungssysteme, to al-low cash payments for products or-dered online. Specifically, the service known as BarPay allows customers to order goods or services online and to pay for these in cash at 18,000 petrol stations, shops and kiosks within the Lekkerland retail network. As such, BarPay is a means of payment for con-sumers who do not have access to credit cards and who have reservations about prepaid payment methods.

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RETAILER CARDS

Citi re-names US-based re-tailer credit card division...

In the US, Citi has announced that its division focused on retailer credit card products and services is being re-named Citi Retail Services having pre-viously been known as Retail Partner Cards. Citi believes that the new name best represents the unit's breadth of products and services, including pri-vate label credit cards, digital, mobile and loyalty solutions and market in-sights provided to national and region-al partners. Citi Retail Services, which

manages some of the largest retail co-brand and loyalty programs in the country, has been active in this field for almost 30 years with a portfolio of partners that includes some of the largest retail, automotive and fuel brands in the country. In future, it will continue to provide consumer and commercial credit card products and services to national and regional retail-ers across the US. Currently, the busi-ness services nearly 90 million ac-counts for a number of brands includ-ing ExxonMobil, Macy's, Sears, Shell and The Home Depot among others.

... and renews private label card deal with fuel retail brand

As one of the first developments using the new brand, Citi Retail Services and CITGO Petroleum Corporation have announced a multi-year renewal of their long-standing private label credit card relationship. Citi has provided branded payment products to CITGO since 1995. These payment cards are conceived not only to allow CITGO retail locations to quickly and efficient-ly process purchases but also to give customers added convenience and flexibility when buying fuel and con-venience store items. CITGO is active in 27 states through approximately 6,000 locally-owned retail locations.

Citibank and Big C Super-center introduce new Visa platinum card

In Thailand, Citibank has launched a new co-branded Visa platinum card with Big C Supercenter, a retailer oper-ating more than 170 stores in both Bangkok and elsewhere in the country. As an introductory offer, the card pro-vided 20% cashback in all Big C Super-center outlets to first-time Citibank credit card customers who signed up before the end of March. On-going

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features include the opportunity to earn Citibank Rewards points equiva-lent to 5% cashback of the charged amount for customers with monthly expenditure of THB 6,000 or more, falling to 2% below this threshold, plus other enhanced earning rates for ex-penditure at Big C Supercenter outlets. The two partners eventually anticipate attracting more than 500,000 cardhold-ers.

GE Capi ta l acq ui res Toys“R”Us card program assets from JP Morgan Chase...

GE Capital Retail Bank has announced a multi-year agreement to provide the consumer credit card program in the US and Puerto Rico for Toys“R”Us, a leading dedicated toy and juvenile products retailer. The new Toys“R”Us credit card program, which is sched-uled for launch in June 2012, will in-clude both a co-branded card and a private label credit card as well as the opportunity to earn special rewards for purchases made at any one of the 879 Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores nationwide or online at Toysrus.com. As part of the deal, GE Capital Retail Bank will also acquire the existing card program assets of approximately USD 900 million from JP Morgan Chase for an undisclosed sum.

... and renews private label card relationships with four retail chains

Also in the US, GE Capital Retail Bank has disclosed the renewal of pri-vate label card programs with four retailer brands, namely Art Van Furni-ture, Pep Boys, ShopNBC and The Tile Shop.

Art Van Furniture is the largest spe-cialist retailer of furniture in the state of Michigan with 34 store locations

and first began working with GE Capi-tal in this context in 2009. Meanwhile, Pep Boys is a leading automotive after-market service and retail chain that operates 736 stores and approximately 7,000 service bays across 35 states; its retailer card relationship with GE Cap-ital dates back to 1996.

As for ShopNBC, this is a multi-channel electronic retailer, operated by ValueVision Media, that enables cus-tomers to interact and shop via a range of media (including Facebook, inter-net, mobile devices, TV, Twitter and YouTube) and that reaches over 80 million households in the US with cable or satellite TV. The credit card program was initially launched in part-nership with GE Capital in 2006.

Finally, The Tile Shop is a Minnesota-based specialist retailer of tile and oth-er DIY products with 57 outlets whose card distribution relationship with GE Capital began in 2009.

Scotiabank gains access to retailer card portfolio through Banco Colpatria acquisition

Canada’s Scotiabank has recently com-pleted its acquisition of 51% of Co-lombian retail bank, Banco Colpatria. By entering into this long-term part-nership with Mercantil Colpatria, which retains the other 49% of Banco Colpatria’s shares, Scotiabank will not only be able to participate in significant retail banking opportunities in Colom-bia, but will also gain access to Colpatria’s notable presence in that country’s retailer financial services sector. The bank is the second-largest credit card issuer in Colombia, and manages credit card portfolios on be-half of several retailers, including the supermarket chain Carrefour.

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RETAILER FINANCE

BBVA and Huawei announce technology finance partner-ship

Spanish bank BBVA and technology and communications firm Huawei have announced the creation of a part-nership to offer clients financing for Huawei products. The venture, to be marketed under the brand name Huawei Renting, will be developed by BBVA’s subsidiary, Rent and Tech, which specializes in technology renting and financing programs. Rent and Tech plans to offer commercial and financial support to Huawei’s clients and partners through a variety of rent-al, lease and loan options.

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GENERAL

BNP Paribas and Sberbank finalise point-of-sale finance joint venture

In Russia, in line with the memoran-dum of understanding first signed in June 2011, Sberbank has signed an agreement with Cetelem, the consumer lending division of BNP Paribas, for the creation of a joint venture special-ising in point-of-sale finance and oper-ating under the Cetelem brand. Sber-bank will have 70% stake in the joint venture with the remaining 30% owned by BNP Paribas. It is planned that operations will begin in the sum-mer of 2012.

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ActiveQuote, 5 ADAC, 9 Afripay, 11 Agencia Valenciana de Movilidad, 10 AIB, 7 Allianz, 5 Allianz Suisse, 5 Ally Financial, 9 AMAG, 5 American Express, 10, 11 Argos, 6 Art Van Furniture, 16 Assisted Living Federation of America, 4 Association Nationale Industries Alimentaires, 4 Assurant Solutions, 6 Audi, 5 Aviva, 5, 7 AXA, 5, 8 Banco Azteca, 15 Banco Colpatria, 16 Banco Espírito Santo, 10 Banco Santander, 9 Bank Ekonomi Raharja, 8 Bank Zachodni WBK, 9 Bankia, 10 Bankinter Seguros Generales, 8 Barclaycard, 10 BBVA, 8, 10, 16 Big C Supercenter, 15 Blackberry, 12, 13 BNL, 9 BNP Paribas, 16 BOKU, 11 Brightside Group, 4 Britannia Rescue, 4 CARCHEX, 6 Carrefour, 16 Catalan Federation of Cycling, 5 Cepsa, 10 Cetelem, 16 Chase, 10, 16 Chrysler, 9 Chubb, 6, 7 Cigna, 5 Citi, 15 Citibank, 15 Compagnie Europeenne d’Assurances, 6 Comviva, 12 Confagricoltura, 9 Confused.com, 5 Co-operative Bank, 7 DAB Bank, 9 Dah Sing, 4 Deutsche Bank, 9 Disney, 10 Egg, 7 Emmaüs Solidarité, 9 Ericsson, 14 ExxonMobil, 15 EZV Gesellschaft für Zahlungssysteme, 15 Facebook, 16 Ferrari, 11 Fiat, 9

Gallagher Heath, 7 GE Capital, 16 General Motors, 9 Generali, 8 Globacom, 11 GMAC, 9 Gras Savoye, 4 Grupo Elektra, 15 Hang Seng Bank, 8 Hang Seng General Insurance, 8 Hantverksförening, 4 HDFC Bank, 13 HDI Direkt Versicherung, 5 Home Retail Group, 6 Homebase, 6 HSBC, 8 Huawei, 16 JP Morgan, 16 Karnataka State Co-operative Apex Bank, 8 KBC, 8, 9 Legacoop, 9 Legal & General, 7 Lekkerland, 15 LG, 13 Lianlian Group, 11 Liberty Seguros, 8 Lifestyle Services Group, 7 Lingmerths, 6 Macy's, 15 Manulife, 7 MAPFRE, 4, 6, 8 MAPFRE Asistencia, 6 Maresme 2.000, 5 Maserati, 9 MasterCard, 11, 12 Mediaworld, 6 Mediocom, 10 Metro, 6 MG, 9 Millicom International Cellular, 14 Moneo Payment Solutions, 5 Morgan Stanley, 10 Movida, 13 Movistar, 12 NIPPONKOA, 4 NKSJ Holdings, 4 Nordea, 8 Oberthur Technologies, 12, 13 Orange, 13, 14 payWave, 13 Pep Boys, 16 QBE, 8 QNB, 12 Qtel, 12 RAC, 7 Road China Assistance, 4 Roshan, 14 RSA, 6, 7 Saab, 9 Samsung, 13 Santander, 5, 9, 11 Saturn, 6 Sberbank, 16

Scotiabank, 16 Sears, 15 Seat, 5 Shell, 15 ShopNBC, 16 Škoda, 5 Société Générale, 9 Solid Försäkringar, 4, 6 Sompo Japan, 4 SPB Italia, 6 SsangYong, 9 Stanbic IBTC Bank, 11 Suzuki, 9 Sybase 365, 12 Talanx, 5, 8 Telefónica, 12 The Home Depot, 15 The Tile Shop, 16 Toyota, 6 Toys“R”Us, 16 Tryg, 8 TTK Group, 5 TUiR Warta, 8 Tvåhjulmästarna, 6 Twitter, 16 UBI Banca, 9 UIA, 7 Unicom Payment, 12 UniCredit, 9, 15 Università Carlo Cattaneo, 9 Utiba, 12 Vauxhall, 9 Vehicle Production Group, 9 Vetfone, 6 Vianor, 4 Vincento Payment Solutions, 11 Visa, 10, 13, 14, 15 Visa Europe, 10, 13 Vistage International, 6 Vodafone, 14 Volkswagen, 5 Volkswagen Versicherungsdienst, 5 Volvo, 5 Wells Fargo, 15 Western Union, 14, 15 Willis, 4 Wind, 14 Wirecard Bank, 15 YouTube, 16

Organisations in this issue

18

Global Affinity Finance Club

www.finaccord.com

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 affini-ty 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., 2012 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 systemat-

ically research close to 250 ma-

jor 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:

Insurance and Assistance linked to Payment Cards and Bank Accounts in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe GBP 2,495

Insurance and Assistance linked to Payment Cards and Bank Accounts in Southern and Western Europe GBP 2,495

Payment Metrics: Consumer Attitudes towards and Usage of Traditional and Emerging Means of Payment in the UK GBP 1,995

Channel Metrics: Consumer Distribution Trends in UK Financial and Professional Services GBP 2,995

Manufacturer-Branded and Dealer-Intermediated Motor Insurance and Road Assistance in Emerging Global Markets GBP 1,995

Extended Warranties for New and Used Cars in Emerging Global Markets GBP 1,995

Automotive Finance and Leasing for Consumers in Emerging Global Markets GBP 1,995

Consumer Automotive Financial Services in Emerging Global Markets GBP 3,995

Bancassurance in China: Life, Non-Life and Creditor Insurance GBP 995

Risk Metrics: Consumer Concern for and Acquisition of Insurance for Everyday Risks in the UK GBP 1,995