USE OF CO-BRANDED CREDIT CARDS GROWING
By Adnews Staff
Co-branded credit cards will have a 36% share of the U.S. bank card market by 1999, according to a study by Packaged Facts of New York. The total number of cards will be 183 million. In 1994 co-branded credit cards had a 25% share of the bank card market, with almost 77 million cards. This type of card is issued jointly by a bank and another company. In Canada, for instance, there is the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Ford Visa card. Until co-branded cards, a major problem with the overall credit card market was that consumers were unable to differentiate one card from another. Co-branded cards first appeared on the market when banks joined with non-profit organizations to issue affinity cards for fund raising; the organizations received donations linked to card transactions. The banks are responsible for marketing the cards, which mostly consists of soliciting members to sign up. In Canada, Canadian Tire is one of the most recent companies to get into co-branding, linking up with MasterCard.