To further strengthen its relationship with parent Life Insurance Corporation of India, IDBI Bank is planning to launch a co-branded credit card, which will be marketed to customers, agents, and employees of the corporation and its subsidiaries.
The co-branded credit card will be launched in association with LIC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, LIC Credit Cards Services (LIC CSL), before the festival season of Diwali gets underway, said Jorty M Chacko, Executive Director, IDBI Bank.
Currently, IDBI Bank offers five credit card variants. LIC CSL, which has a tie-up with Axis Bank and Corporation Bank for issuance of credit cards under co-branded/white label agreements, provides credit card services to LIC employees, club member agents, and policyholders.
Sees huge potential
Chacko emphasised that IDBI Bank sees a huge potential customer base in LIC’s 29 crore policyholders, 11.80 lakh agents, and 1.12 lakh employees to cross-sell, among others, credit cards and home loans, and source deposits.
As per LIC’s 2017-18 annual report, LIC CSL had a credit card subscriber base of 2,06,681 as of March-end 2018. IDBI Bank currently has a credit card subscriber base of about 35,000.
LIC completed the acquisition of 51 per cent controlling stake in IDBI Bank in January 2019 for about ₹21,600 crore. Prior to the acquisition, LIC held 10.82 per cent stake in the bank.
The government now holds 46.46 per cent stake in IDBI Bank, against 80.96 per cent stake held prior to the disinvestment in favour of LIC.
According to IDBI Bank’s latest annual report, the majority stake acquisition by LIC has opened up several business avenues for the bank.