Morgan Stanley's UK credit card operation and Liverpool Victoria, the UK's largest friendly society, have today announced a new business partnership.
Under the terms of the deal, Morgan Stanley will acquire Liverpool Victoria's own branded credit cards and the affinity credit card it issues for the CSMA (Civil Service Motoring Association), while the friendly society will have the opportunity to offer its competitive motor and home insurance products to Morgan Stanley credit cardholders. In addition, Liverpool Victoria will acquire Morgan Stanley's existing personal loan portfolio.
Morgan Stanley has built a loyal customer base by rewarding cardholders and has plans to review and further develop the reward proposition for Liverpool Victoria and CSMA cardholders. Morgan Stanley will continue to operate the credit card portfolio under the Liverpool Victoria and CSMA brands respectively, and will tailor the product and reward offering to meet customer requirements.
The announcement follows Morgan Stanley's recent acquisition of rewards based credit card Goldfish from Lloyds TSB in February 2006, a move that increased customer numbers by 47 per cent.
Liverpool Victoria has developed a strong reputation for competitive, comprehensive and award-winning home and motor insurance products, from which Morgan Stanley cardholders will now be able to benefit. The partnership between Morgan Stanley and Liverpool Victoria builds on an existing relationship formed in October 2005, when Morgan Stanley outsourced its personal loan operation for new customers to the friendly society to white label all new personal loans.
The partnership with Liverpool Victoria demonstrates Morgan Stanley's continued expansion in the UK credit card market. In addition to its cashback Platinum Card, rewards based Goldfish Card, Gold Card and buy and fly! MasterCard, Morgan Stanley recently launched the 'ultra-premium' i24 Card.
It also builds on Morgan Stanley's strong portfolio of affinity partnerships which include a card developed for Black Horse loan customers and a long-standing partnership with Leeds Building Society.
Charlotte Hogg, managing director of Morgan Stanley's UK credit card business, said: "This exciting new partnership with Liverpool Victoria plays to the strengths of both businesses. The deal marks significant growth in our card portfolio and will help to diversify Morgan Stanley's existing customer base. Customer rewards are central to our business strategy and we are looking forward to working with Liverpool Victoria and the CSMA to review the customer reward offering and ensure it is tailored to the needs of the cardholders going forward."
Liverpool Victoria is the UK's largest friendly society, with around £8bn in total assets. The society offers a broad range of financial services including life assurance, general insurance, asset management, banking services and whole of market financial advice.
For Liverpool Victoria, the new deal sees the expansion of general insurance sales opportunities, as well as expanding its personal lending business, and builds upon its existing business partnerships with a number of building societies, trade unions, and membership organisations.
Ian Cordwell, Liverpool Victoria's Group Marketing Director, said: "This is a great new partnership that will give us access to a large number of potential new customers for our wide range of competitive motor and home insurance products, whilst at the same time enabling us to expand our lending business."
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Morgan Stanley
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• Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm and a market leader in securities, investment management and credit services. With more than 600 offices in 30 countries, Morgan Stanley connects people, ideas and capital to help clients achieve their financial aspirations.
• Morgan Stanley is one of the world's largest providers of credit cards with more than 50 million cardholders globally, mainly in the US through the Discover Card issued on the Discover network. The Morgan Stanley Card was launched in the UK in September 1999.
• For further information on Morgan Stanley Consumer Banking, visit www.morganstanley.com/cards.
Liverpool Victoria
Liverpool Victoria has more than 2.5 million members and customers, who trust us to manage over £8 billion on their behalf. Liverpool Victoria provides a broad range of financial services including life assurance, general insurance, asset management, banking services and whole of market financial advice.
Liverpool Victoria is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and is a member of the ABI, AFS and ILAG, and a founding member of AMI (the Association of Mutual Insurers) a trade association formed in September 2004 specifically for mutual insurers. Liverpool Victoria supports AMI's work of representing the UK mutual insurance industry in lobbying and communicating with bodies such as the FSA, UK Treasury, politicians, the European Union, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors and the International Accounting Standards Board.