"The events of the past year have significantly unsettled the credit card market in Canada. The level of competition for customer accounts has been increased by both new entrants and the legalization of dual network-branded issuing. At the same time, the economic recession is driving up household debt levels as well as card delinquencies and write-offs. Factoring in the cost of rewards programs, some card issuers will struggle to preserve profitability in the near term." states
Patricia McGinnis, Director in
Mercator Advisory Group`s Banking Group.
The "Big Five" Canadian banks hold leadership positions in this market, but they continue to be challenged by second tier domestic financial firms, by the Canadian subsidiaries of major foreign banks, and by card market entrants from the retail sector, including most recently the new Walmart Bank Canada.
To preserve profitability and avoid excessive losses in the current macro-economic environment, lenders must recalibrate most existing credit models and develop new strategies to respond to credit deterioration.
Dual-issuing is now allowed, and some issuers are already taking the bait. In a market already so saturated, we do not believe that simply issuing a new card of the "other" network will significantly change market positioning.
Among the leading Canadian banks, CIBC has built a volume of business significantly more than proportional to the bank`s asset size in its market.
Source: Mercator Advisory Group
