Advanzia Bank
Advanzia Bank S.A was established in Luxembourg in 2005 subject to CSSF supervision, specializing in no-fee credit cards and euro savings accounts. The bank was established as a result of the former Founding Management of Bankia Bank seeking to establish an EU-based bank. This was accomplished with the previously largest shareholder of Bankia Bank, Kistefos, becoming the largest shareholder of Advanzia Bank. Tor Erland Fyksen, Jan Grenth, and Eirik Holtedahl have together with Dr. Thomas Schlieper set up the bank, which has quickly become a significant issuer of international credit cards in mainland Europe without a presence in the highly competitive UK card market. Europe's premier card issuer is Barclaycard of the UK.
Under the umbrella of European cross border banking regulations, Advanzia caters primarily to Luxembourgish, German, Austrian and French clients. Within its first year of operations, the bank had become the largest Luxembourgish issuer of credit cards. Within two years of operations (2008), Advanzia had become the largest credit card provider in Germany in terms of transactions turnover value with its product Gebührenfrei MasterCard Gold, despite a general decline in the credit card market.[1][2]
The bank made its first profits in 2009, with the 2008 financial crisis being a significant contributor to lowering funding costs.[3] The current CEO is Marc Hentgen, formerly CEO of Fortis Consumer Finance Deutschland, having led its ambitions for growth in Germany through Credit4me.[4]
The bank had 997.000 card holders and an after-tax profit of EUR 40 million in 2016.[5] This placed the bank among top 3% of Luxembourg banks in terms of profitability (45% return on own funds).[6]
94% of the bank's credit card clients were located in Germany as March 2017[7], suggesting that the bank is the largest issuer of credit cards in the German market.
See also
References
- ^ "Payment Cards in Germany" (PDF). Datamonitor/MarketPublishers.com. June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
- ^ "Payment Cards in Germany". Datamonitor. July 2011. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
- ^ "Zinshistorie zum Advanziakonto der Advanzia Bank S. A". Modern-banking.de. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
- ^ "Fortis will in Deutschland fünf Prozent Marktanteil bei Konsumkrediten erreichen (EuramS) 11.05.2007 | Nachricht". finanzen.net. 2013-05-30. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
- ^ "Investor Relations - Facts and Figures". Advanzia Bank. Retrieved 2017-06-30.
- ^ "Luxembourg Banks - Insights 2014" (PDF). KPMG. July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
- ^ "Q1 2017 Report". Advanzia. May 11, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.