SBI Card to have more co-branding with other banks

Kolkata: SBI Card, a subsidiary of State Bank of India, would go for co-branding of credit cards with more other banks which do not have big back-office support, an official said.

"We are talking with several other banks for co-branding of credit cards. These banks belong both in the public sector and small private sector banks", CEO of SBI Card Vijay Jasuja told reporters here Thursday.

He said since SBI Card is a separate company, it was able to have co-branding with other banks while others do not have that advantage since they were operating from their credit cards division.

SBI Card already has co-branding with Karur Vysya Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Federal Bank and Lakshmi Vilas Bank.

Jasuja said that GE, which was one of the shareholders of SBI Cards, would make an exit in September or October this year.

Launching the SBI Elite credit card, he said that SBI Card has a customer base of 3.75 million and the target is to add one million this fiscal.

In terms of market share, it was 15 percent in terms of numbers, 15 percent in terms of assets outstanding and 12 percent in terms of spends.

Currently it enjoys the number three position in the credit cards industry in the country, he said.