Small business card lending has received greater attention from banks during the past several years, as attractive returns and growth have significantly exceeded those of consumer card portfolios. Several banks have invested substantial resources in their business card portfolios in recent years in order to take advantage of these dynamics.

Yet despite strong industry fundamentals, the challenges that banks face in small business card lending – competing aggressively for new customers, developing sophisticated analytic capabilities for customer management, and managing losses – are significant. Further complicating matters, there are few sources of business card competitive data available, making it difficult for banks to understanding their competitive positioning and performance.

Argus’ launched its Small Business Card Study in 2004 to address these needs. The study has quickly established itself as the most accurate source of industry benchmarking information: twelve issuers provide over 15mm billed accounts to the study, enabling Argus to create relevant and actionable benchmarking comparisons.

Participants use Argus’ benchmarking data to evaluate their programs relative to customized benchmarks of similar programs and client size. Issuers may compare their portfolios to peers on many dimensions, including pricing, line assignment, balance generation, debit activity, fee and waiver performance, risk management, and new account performance. In addition, Argus’ rich dataset enables comparisons at the business, billed account, and card level for a variety of segments (product, risk segment, vintage).

Each participant in US SBCS receives:

• Quarterly benchmarking binders that compare issuer performance to a customized benchmark, including summary performance metrics, full income statements, and drill-down tables detailing profitability, customer behavior, risk, and pricing. Metrics are reported at several levels, including business, billed account, and card
• Quarterly executive summaries that describe key benchmarking comparisons identify opportunities for improving performance
• Semi-annual senior management presentations that provide an in-depth review of benchmarking results
• Additional ad-hoc analytic support in which issuers may request customized analyses

Issuers interested in joining the US Small Business Card Study typically begin with one year of participation. For more information, please contact Michael Grillo at (914) 307-3147 or mgrillo@argusinformation.com