The Hindu Business Line : Union Bank says credit card business not a focus area

MUMBAI: Rising defaults on credit card related transactions in the domestic banking industry has prompted leading state-owned lender, Union Bank of India not to go aggressively on its credit card business.

The bank, which so far has issued nearly 30,000 credit cards, has 'consciously' taken a decision to go slow in this segment considering the prevailing market conditions but will re-look at its strategy after March, its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr M V Nair told reporters here on Friday.

The bank has seen a robust growth in its debit-card base in FY 09, which grew to around 31 lakh cards as compared to around 20 lakh early this year, he said. The lender expects to take this number to 40 lakh by end-March.

Union Bank has also received licenses from the RBI to set up 539 new branches in this fiscal, which would take the total number of branches to around 3,000, Mr Nair said. Besides, the lender also expects to increase the number of ATMs to 2,500 from 1,50 0 at present. The bank has added nearly 45,000 customers under its SMS-Banking programme launched a few months back. - PTI

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