This blog is based on the Packaged Facts report Commercial Payment Cards: U.S. and Global Market Trends, 9th Edition. Find out more by clicking here. March 1 - Despite the recent slowdown in the Chinese economy and forecasts for tapering growth ahead, homegrown payment network China UnionPay (CUP) remains poised for robust growth both domestically and abroad. At a macro level, China’s two-speed economy emphasizes a shift away from investment and manufacturing and toward consumption and service...
March 1, 2016For more insights from Co-branded and Affinity Credit Cards in the U.S. visit the report product page here. With credit cards offering ever richer rewards tier architectures (is 3-2-1 already passé?), many wonder whether the card industry is trading rewards for lower profit margins. So far, we think this concern is overblown: rewards costs are indeed rising; but as they move toward lower-cost digital channels, card member acquisition and communication expenses are falling. But acquisition m...
November 2, 2015This blog is based on the Packaged Facts report Private Label Credit Cards in the U.S., 9th Edition. Purchase a copy by Dec. 1 and receive 5% off with promo code PFPLCC1015. The movement to virtual private label cards housed within retailer mobile apps foretells the eventual demise of the physical card: Already, more than 30% of private label card issuer and program manager Alliance Data Systems’ private label card purchase value is made via card-not-present transactions. More broadly, retai...
October 13, 2015Globalization is occurring at a rapid pace, requiring increased simplification and control over employer payments and expenses across multiple countries. Among payment providers (networks and card issuers alike), this has undoubtedly caused growing pains, as they struggle to craft solutions sophisticated and robust enough to meet global challenges of many stripes-regulatory and operational hurdles among them. But in plain English, it also means payments expansion-following the arc of global gr...
May 2, 2014Once home to consumers with higher risk profiles and higher chargeoff rates, store credit card volume and active accounts took a nosedive during the recession, as issuer portfolios groaned under the strain of bad debt and reduced customer engagement. But signs point to a private label turnaround. Deal-making activity suggests that private label card programs have become a more viable and stable income source for issuers; the payment card segment has been buoyed by a spate of deals that has invig...
August 15, 2013