Encouraged by improvement in credit environment and reduction in delinquency rates, Standard Chartered Bank is planning an aggressive expansion of credit-card customers over the next year.

As a first step, the bank has started online approval of credit cards, said Mr Shymal Saxena, General Manager-Retail Banking Products, India and South Asia.

Customers applying for credit cards can now just fill in the information on the bank's Web site and get an ‘in-principle' approval within 30 seconds. The bank launched this facility two to three weeks back.

“We are quite optimistic about the card business. About 8-10 months back we saw the credit environment improving. Also, dangers such as overleveraging have now been addressed by credit bureaus, which have a lot of information. So, banks can take the right underwriting decisions. That gives us a confidence to be more aggressive,” Mr Saxena said.

The bank currently has a credit-card base of 1.1 million. Card spends are seeing an increase of 35-40 per cent on a month-on-month basis, he added.

As on June 2011, Standard Chartered's total retail book was at $5 billion, of which, mortgages accounted for $2 billion, SME loans $2 billion and ‘others' the remaining.

The bank also plans to offer online approval at branches. Once the card is approved, customers can complete the documentation at the branch immediately and the card will be despatched within 48 hours.

The bank is also considering tying up with large distribution chains with 2,000-3,000 outlets for offering this online approval facility.

Online facility

Following credit cards, the bank may also offer online approval of personal loans, Mr Saxena said.

“Credit spends on online usage are going up significantly. We believe that people want to do their entire banking online — credit card, deposits, and loans. This is one trend we want to en-cash,” he said.

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