New Delhi, April 12:

IndusInd Bank hopes to turn around Deutsche Bank’s loss-making credit card
business in a year’s time after completing the acquisition of the portfolio.

“We expect the (credit card) business to be profitable in a year’s time,”
IndusInd Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Mr Romesh Sobti told
PTI.

On Monday, Hinduja Group-promoted IndusInd Bank agreed to acquire Deutsche
Bank’s credit card business in India along with the entire operating
platform of the cards franchise including talent and technology.

The portfolio size of the credit card business with nearly 2,50,000
cardholders is about Rs 225 crore, he said.

“We hope to issue cards from the bank to new customers by the end of June,”
he said.

The strategic intent behind this acquisition is to offer targeted credit
card products for chosen client segments, he said.

The existing cardholders would continue to retain Deutsche Bank’s credit
cards for certain period of time, after which they would be phased out, he
said.

With this acquisition, IndusInd Bank will look at expanding its wide range
of customer-centric financial products and becoming a full service bank, he
said.

“Cards are an important element in our segmented offering. Deutsche Bank has
a stable cards portfolio and the acquisition gives us a head start in
building the cards business,” Mr Sobti said.

As a precursor to its entry into the credit card business, IndusInd Bank
hired Mr Anil Ramachandran as the head of its cards business in November
last year.

Prior to this, Mr Ramachandran was with Deutsche Bank as head of the credit
cards business for India.

Earlier, he had worked for Citibank, where he was also associated with the
credit card function in various senior positions.

Resource:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/article1691
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