Crédit Agricole has issued 850,000
of its Double Action two-in-one debit and credit cards in the space
of 12 months, making the product one of the more successful retail
product launches of the past year. The French bank hopes to repeat
the hit with its new Mozaïc M6 prepaid card, reports
Douglas
Blakey.
In marked contrast to the majority of its international peers,
France’s largest retail bank by assets, Crédit Agricole, posted a
relatively strong domestic retail performance in the first half of
the year. Net profit was down only 1.9 percent year-on-year in its
Regional Banks unit at €335 million ($489 million) though other
divisions fared worse.
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Overall, retail lending at its regional banks
division increased by 3.4 percent, and low-cost deposits were
driven up by an increase in passbook account numbers (up 14.2
percent). Costs were contained with a 1.7 percent decline,
contributing to a 400 basis point reduction in the unit’s
cost-income ratio.
Further highlights included the national
roll-out of its mobile banking service, ca-mobile.com; the
successful launch of the government-subsidised ‘green loan’; and
arguably its biggest retail hit of the past year, the Double Action
combined credit and debit card, the first of its type in
France.
Crédit Agricole, already France’s biggest card
issuer, with 13 million cardholders and a 28 percent card market
share of French households, rolled out the Double Action card
between last June and October. By the end of June this year,
649,000 cards had been issued.
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By GlobalDataTwo months later, by the end of August, that
figure had grown to almost 850,000, the bank has told RBI.
With none of Crédit Agricole’s rivals having yet launched a rival
two-in-one card, the bank has seemingly pulled off a major
marketing coup.
It has also found a lucrative source of fee
income. There are annual card fees of €46 for the standard
MasterCard-branded credit/debit card and €127 for a Gold MasterCard
Double Action card – indicating around €100 million in fee income
since its June launch.
For customers using Double Action, there is a
simple choice when they withdraw cash at an ATM or make a purchase
at a retailer. Selecting the option ‘CB comptant’ utilises the
debit card facility while choosing ‘CB crédit’ selects the credit
card option.
In addition to offering cardholders the
combined credit/debit facility, the bank has sought to
differentiate the EMV-compliant card with two insurance services
exclusive to Double Action: Sécuripanne and Sécurishopping, to
protect customers’ purchases and applies whether payment is made by
the debit or credit facility.
Sécuripanne extends the manufacturer or
distributor warranty covering new purchases worth over €150 to 36
months.
It pays the cost of repairing the covered item
when it breaks down, or, if the item cannot be repaired, the cost
of replacing the covered item, up to its market value. While there
is a maximum payment of €1,500 per claim and €3,000 per annum for
all claims, the insurance protection is covered by the annual
cardholder fee.
Sécurishopping is also complimentary and
covers new purchases of more than €75 against theft and accidental
damage for 60 days from the purchase date. It pays the full cost of
replacing or repairing the stolen or damaged goods, subject again
to the €1,500 and €3,000 limits applied to the Sécuripanne
cover.
A dedicated website at www.cartenouvellegeneration.com
heralded the arrival of the card and how it worked, with its
features brought to life via an online fictional TV series, which a
bank spokeswoman told RBI “depicted the card as the ‘new
star’ that everyone has been waiting to discover”.
The website was promoted by a series of
banners on major portals from last June, including Yahoo and MSN,
in the run-up to an October launch of a series of prime-time
television ads across the main French terrestrial and satellite
channels.
A second wave of online ads followed the TV
campaign, all designed to draw traffic to the website.
“The common thread in these two advertising
waves was duality: the card has a double action option of paying by
debit or credit, and the double protection card feature, offering
two kinds of insurance,” added the spokeswoman.
In addition, the bank targeted marketing
activity at particular segments of the market, including trade
union members and sectors of commerce, in particular French
retailers.
Prepaid – the next
success?
Little over a year after the birth of
Double Action, the bank is looking for a fresh card success – and
it may come from its latest prepaid product. In September, it
rolled out the Mozaïc M6 card, a product aimed at the youth segment
(people aged between 12 and 25).
Tied to a current account, the
MasterCard-branded card, backed by entertainment television channel
M6, features a loyalty programme and offers cardholders discounted
offers on fashion, culture and music. Again the product comes with
its own website, www.ca-mozaic.com.
|
EARNINGS |
||
|
Crédit Agricole – retail banking |
||
|
Division(1) |
Net income, H109 (€m) |
% change y-o-y |
|
Crédit Agricole – Regional Banks |
335 |
-1.9 |
|
LCL |
293 |
-15.3 |
|
International Retail Banking |
n/d |
n/d |
|
Specialised Financial Services |
194 |
-23.4 |
|
(1) all divisions listed are either wholly |
||
