Credit Cards Industry Overview

Companies that issue consumer and business credit cards.

Summary

It’s a good time to be a credit card issuer. That should be clear to anyone with a mailbox.

There are approximately 7.5 billion credit card solicitations coursing through the US mail each year (or about 25 for every man, woman, and child in the country).

Full Credit Cards Industry Description

Industry Consolidation

Consolidation

In the past 10 years, the number of commercial banks in the US dropped by almost 30 percent. Large economies of scale in banking operations have encouraged consolidation, which has produced several dozen very large banks with more than $50 billion in assets. Smaller banks are still able to thrive by providing personal attention smaller customers don't get from large institutions.

Several factors have encouraged consolidation in recent years: larger companies have easier and cheaper access to capital markets, computer systems can now handle credit analysis and loan tracking functions for large portfolios of loans, and the industry's strong profitability has prompted many companies to expand by buying smaller firms that already have offices, personnel, and a local presence.

Full Credit Cards Industry Trends

• Aeon Credit Service (Asia) Company Limited
• American Express Centurion Bank
• JACCS Co., Ltd.

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Hoover's has developed its own industry classifications to better serve its customers. These classifications are mapped to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the older U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. The Credit Cards maps to a number of NAICS codes including:

Full Credit Cards Industry Codes

• Financial Services Technology Consortium
  
• Investment Company Institute
  
• The Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers
  

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