The Bluerock team played an important role in delivering the full programme perfectly on time (despite ridiculous deadlines) and not too far off from a very challenging budget. 

Bluerock's top class effort meant that our strategic recommendations will have lasting impact on RBS.

Lisa Harrison
Vice President, Mastercard

    Portfolio Rationalisation & Optimisation

     

    The Challenge

    Clearly various factors influence credit card profitability - fees, interest, interchange and bad debt charges are the four primary levers for profitability. Over time, these shift, along with customers' attitudes to debt and purchasing habits, resulting in their card usage changing. Considering this against a backdrop of a challenging economic environment as well as the increasing regulatory and pricing pressures, and it's evident that credit card companies need to frequently review and optimise their portfolios.

    As ever, Card Companies are balancing the income from their declining back book portfolios while trying to ensure that recently acquired customers are retained (post introductory offer) and made profitable. Many companies are also reviewing their portfolios more strategically, determining what to keep or dispose of. An assessment toolkit can be used to this end, which also needs to identify the residual effect on the business - for example the fixed costs around technology & operations now being allocated across fewer cards - having a knock-on effect on their profitability!

    Bluerock Can Help

    Bluerock has undertaken numerous reviews, helping clients understand their portfolios in a challenging and pragmatic manner. This insight, together with the development of a ‘Portfolio Dashboard' with an agreed, tailored set of KPIs, enables clients to monitor their card base over time. Our clients benefit from then having such capabilities in-house - entrenching effective portfolio management in the long term.

     

    For enquiries, contact Julian Sawyer.

    [email protected]
    020 7213 9760