RBS 2004 Annual Report Download - page 29

Annual Review and Summary Financial Statement 2004
Divisional review
27
Retail Direct has leading positions
in the UK in credit card issuing,
merchant acquiring, consumer
finance and supermarket banking.
During 2004 Retail Direct built
on its position, through its range
of strong brands and direct
channels, and expanded its
activities outside the UK. Retail
Direct increased its total income
by 16% to £2,129 million.
 During 2004 Retail Direct increased its total
customer accounts by 14% to 18.9 million. Retail
Direct achieved organic growth in its credit card,
personal loan and mortgage customers, and in its
merchant acquiring relationships. Retail Direct also
increased its customer base through acquisitions
in the Netherlands and the US.
 Average loans to customers grew by 19%.
Average card balances grew by 24%, reflecting the
launch of the MINT card and the acquisition of the
credit card business of People’s Bank. Personal
loan balances grew by 17% and mortgage lending
by 16%.
Cards business
 Our credit card issuing businesses combine
to make one of the largest in the UK. In merchant
acquiring, RBS is number one in the UK, and ranks
fourth globally.
 During 2004 Retail Direct continued to grow
the number of UK credit card accounts through
The Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and newly-
established MINT brands.
 The MINT credit card was successfully
rolled out in 2004. With its curved-shape card,
MINT brought about the first development in the
shape of the credit card in the UK since their
introduction 38 years ago, and is recognised by
customers as an innovative and forward-thinking
brand. The new MINT brand makes full use of the
internet channel, with over 45% of credit card
applications being made online. By the end of
2004, 711,000 cards had been issued with
balances amounting to £1 billion. MINT’s
development continued with the launch of MINT
loans in October 2004.
 Retail Direct continued to achieve strong
growth in its commercial card business. The
innovative commercial ‘One’ Card product, which
offers an expense and payment management
solution for businesses, continued to grow and
strengthen our relationships with SMEs, corporate
and commercial enterprises.
 In merchant acquiring 2004 was another
record year for Streamline, which processed over
2.7 billion transactions.
 WorldPay, our internet payment specialist,
also had a record year, reflecting strong growth in
the volume of shopping on the internet. During
2004, WorldPay further strengthened its position
following the acquisition of Bibit, an internet
payment specialist based in the Netherlands.
WorldPay is now the leading internet payment
specialist in the EU, and provides services to
internet retailers in over 40 countries.