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Landesbank Berlin is the largest credit card issuer in Germany, and has leveraged its market strength to drive innovation through co-branding and prepaid as part of its strategy to exend its reach to different demographics. Truong Mellor reports
Landesbank Berlin (LBB) is the regional market leader through its Berliner Sparkasse and Berliner Bank brands, and has a market share of close to 50 percent of customers in the Berlin area. It is the market leader in the German credit card business overall, with over 1.6 million cards issued. Although the credit card industry in Germany is not particularly strong for such an affluent country, over the past few years LBB has been able to grow its cards business respectably through a number of innovative products and co-branding measures.
LBB's credit card business last year was robust. In 2002, the bank's management adopted a strategy of strengthening its retail customer relationships and was able to make the most of cross-selling opportunities from its core customer base. Its national ambitions were scaled down somewhat as management decided to place more emphasis on its strong regional capabilities.
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