Collateral is the security given to the bank as a safeguard for the facility/ facilities advanced. This is effectively the Bank’s insurance that should there be a default, the bank has something to fall back on to either recover in part or full the amount advanced. It is important for a prospective borrower to realize that there is no such thing as a standard collateral. The nature of the collateral, the amount and the percentage of the facility advanced that it covers will vary from borrower to borrower and from bank to bank. However, there are some standard collaterals. The collateral sought for an overdraft and working capital facilities is the hypothecation of book debts and stocks. The amount advanced will be usually a percentage of the total value – the percentage held back being known in banking connotation as the margin. This is an additional safeguard for a bank Continue reading
Credit Management
Credit Policy in Receivable Management
Concept of Credit Policy The discharge of the credit function in a company embraces a number of activities for which the policies have to be clearly laid down. Such a step will ensure consistency in credit decisions and actions. A credit policy thus, establishes guidelines that govern grant or reject credit to a customer, what should be the level of credit granted to a customer etc. A credit policy can be said to have a direct effect on the volume of investment a company desires to make in receivables. A company falls prey of many factors pertaining to its credit policy. In addition to specific industrial attributes like the trend of industry, pattern of demand, pace of technology changes, factors like financial strength of a company, marketing organization, growth of its product etc. also influence the credit policy of an enterprise. Certain considerations demand greater attention while formulating the credit Continue reading
Credit Card Industry in India
The credit card industry in India has registered an encouraging growth in recent times, but the usage pattern of credit cards remains a point of concern, those in the industry say. Seven years back, India had a base of around five lakh credit cards. There has been a seven-fold increase, with the number of cardholders touching over 38 lakh. These figures point towards the fact that the credit card industry in India is growing at a brisk annual rate of 30 per cent and is expected to grow at a similar rate in the coming years. This fortifies the view that conservative purchasing ideas are giving way to the big in-thing. But it is the usability that raises doubts. According to a survey by the Credit Card & Management Consultancy (CCMC), 71 per cent of first time credit card applicants in the country have expressed the need for advice on Continue reading
Case Study of Mastercard: Going Upscale
Check, cash, or credit card? How many times have you heard that question and replied “credit card” without even thinking about it? When you do think about it, however, credit cards are a relatively new phenomenon. Yet when it comes time to pay, it seems we’re more likely to use the credit card (and to have several of them) than checks or cash. Indeed, some writers have even suggested that, in the not so distant future, we will all operate with “plastic money” all the time. MasterCard had its beginnings in 1966, when a group of banks joined together to form the Interbank Card Association (ICA). The ICA was founded by an association of banks rather than by a single dominant bank. Member committees ran the association by establishing rules for authorization, clearing, and settlement as well as marketing, security, and legal matters. In 1968, ICA went “global” by forming Continue reading
Current Situation of Credit Card Business
The previous (current) financial crisis has severe effects on the business of companies in the credit card business. For a long time, the credit card business has been regarded as one of the most profitable businesses in the financial services industry. MasterCard was one of the most successful companies with its business model differing in one important point from its competitors. Most of the companies in the credit card business issue their cards on their own (including market leader American Express), whereas MasterCard and its main competitor VISA operate through a franchise system which allows its partners (banks) to issue cards of MasterCard. The company is therefore not a direct business partner of cardholders but with the banks which have the right to issue its cards. MasterCard itself states that it is more a franchisor than an issuer of cards. It is therefore not directly exposed to the possibility of Continue reading
Case Study: MasterCard’s Business Model
What is MasterCard? But what does MasterCard exactly do? It provides credit, debit, and prepaid cards from over 25,000 financial institutions. However, MasterCard is primarily a credit card company and specializes in the innovation of these cards throughout the world. It is a also a payment solutions company and through its three tiered business model as franchisor, processor and adviser, the company has developed a new world for its card holders and merchants. The company provides marketing, approval, and transaction services for a variety of payment products in more than 210 countries and territories. Regardless of the type of card, all of them act under the “four-party” payment system. Under this system there are obviously four types of people, the card holder, the issuing bank, the merchant, and the acquiring bank. First, the issuing bank provides their customer with a card that they market and issue throughout their locations. Then Continue reading