A large financial institution has acquired a sizable portfolio of new clients of travel (corporate expense) cards. The bank must decide on the optimal mix of clients to retain in order to achieve the goals of maximizing profitability, entering a new product market successfully, and maintaining reputation. The optimal mix depends on a number of different factors, including annual account spending level, complexity of serving the account, the number of cards in each account, account risk, and account retention level. The selection and number of clients chosen will affect the bank’s future profitability and long-term strategy. The bank is limited by attempting to achieve a three-year payback, and facing costs that can vary significantly and are not in the bank’s control.
This case presents a situation in which a large financial institution has acquired a sizable portfolio of new clients of travel (corporate expense) cards. The bank must decide on the optimal mix of clients to retain in order to achieve their goals of maximizing profitability, entering a new product market successfully and maintaining reputation. The optimal mix depends on a number of different factors, including annual account spend level, complexity of serving the account, the number of cards in each account, account risk and account retention level. The selection and number of clients chosen will affect the bank's future profitability and long term strategy. The bank is limited by attempting to achieve a three-year payback, and facing costs that can vary significantly (and which are not in the bank's control).