IndusInd hopes to turn around Deutsche's card biz in a yr

IndusInd Bank hopes to turn around Deutsche Bank's loss-making credit card business in a year's time after completing the acquisition of the portfolio.

"We expect the (credit card) business to be profitable in a year's time," IndusInd Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Romesh Sobti told PTI.

Yesterday, Hinduja Group-promoted IndusInd Bank agreed to acquire Deutsche Bank's credit card business in India along with the entire operating platform of the cards franchise including talent and technology.

The portfolio size of the credit card business with nearly 2,50,000 cardholders is about Rs 225 crore, he said.

"We hope to issue cards from the bank to new customers by the end of June," he said.

The strategic intent behind this acquisition is to offer targeted credit card products for chosen client segments, he said.

The existing cardholders would continue to retain Deutsche Bank's credit cards for certain period of time, after which they would be phased out, he said.

With this acquisition, IndusInd Bank will look at expanding its wide range of customer-centric financial products and becoming a full service bank, he said.

"Cards are an important element in our segmented offering. Deutsche Bank has a stable cards portfolio and the acquisition gives us a head start in building the cards business," Sobti said.

As a precursor to its entry into the credit card business, IndusInd Bank hired Anil Ramachandran as the head of its cards business in November last year.

Prior to this, Ramachandran was with Deutsche Bank as head of the credit cards business for India.

Earlier, he had worked for Citibank, where he was also associated with the credit card function in various senior positions.