Citibank, the fifth most popular credit card issuer in Australia, has long coveted NAB’s fourth place position. If the bank’s ambitious plan succeeds, it would be the first time in Australia the big four’s ownership of the credit card market was broken.

Citibank is the retail and consumer banking division of international megabank Citi, and in Australia it currently claims 9.8% of the credit card market. This compares to the Commonwealth Bank with 19.7% of the market, ANZ with 18.2%, Westpac with 17.6%, and finally NAB with 12.1%.

Jonathan Larsen, in charge of consumer banking including credit cards for Citibank in the Asia Pacific region, is confident of eventual success. This is based partly on the company’s 10% increase in accounts receivable in 2009, a higher return than any of the big four.

“We see Australia as a sophisticated and very competitive market,” said Mr. Larsen. “It’s dominated by the four major banks [but] we are continuing to see opportunities for us.”

They consider Australia so sophisticated, in fact, that when it was time to test a new enhanced online banking platform, Citi experimented here first before rolling it out for the rest of the world.

Rather than increasing their market share through acquisitions, Citibank prefers to grow organically or through partnerships with other companies. One such partnership, with Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, kicks off in July 2010 with a range of credit card products issued by Citi and carrying the Virgin name.

“The competitors don’t make it easy for us,” said Mr. Larsen. “We think we offer better value for the business that we are competing for. We offer value and transparency, and if we can continue to do there’s no reason we can’t gain the additional market share to take us to number four.”

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/citibank-aims-to-leapfrog-nab-in-credit-card-rankings/story-e6frg8zx-1225841576182