Citibank may issue Amex cards in India

NEW DELHI: In a major development in the credit card business in the global market, Citibank has entered into an agreement with American Express to issue the latter''s branded credit card in the US.
The US bank will consider launching a similar product in India after reviewing its experience in US .
The Amex credit card issued by Citibank will be accepted on the Amex global merchant network.Citibank''s spokesperson here said the agreement was for the US market and would not be applicable in India, but banking sources said the decision would pave the way for the American bank to issue Amex cards here as well.
The Citibank spokesperson added that the bank would review its experience in the US in December 2005. Based on that, it would decide on expanding the business outside.
An Amex bank official said this would be a great booster for the card businesses of Amex. Citibank has a great customer base, and this would open up new opportunities for Amex, he said. Citibank is the biggest credit card issuer in the US, with over 100 million cards. Amex has issued over 60 million cards in the US market.
In India, Citibank, which issues Mastercard and Visa, has around 14 million card holders.
The new Amex credit card products developed by Citibank in US would be available in late 2005.
In this, Citibank will be responsible for issuing the cards, managing customer relationships, providing service, credit management and designing card product features.
Amex will process transactions on its global merchant network. Until 1996, Amex was not allowing other banks and finance companies to issue Amex card. But, in 1996 it changed the policy. However, in US, those who were issuing Master and Visa cards were not issuing Amex cards.