ABA Banking Journal - June 2008 - (Page 50)

Tech topics Key tech applications yield in-house credit card operation for Wachovia Wachovia launched a new credit card operation more than five years after selling a troubled, $8 billion portfolio to Bank One in 2000. The protagonist in its own phoenix story, the $808.9 billion-assets institution went back to in-house credit at a time when many in the industry were either scaling back or relying only on private-label card programs, as Wachovia had itself done in a deal with MBNA spanning recent years. Despite the financial ebb and flow of credit within the bank, and current challenges in other areas, Wachovia moved ahead in July 2006 with the most current iteration of its credit card program, believing that the key to success is tapping into the requirements of demographic segments. Early performance has borne that out—with 1.3 million customers booked and $2 billion in revenue generated. The bank continues to promote credit as a linchpin of the basic banking package. “The fact is, a credit card is important to consumers. It’s a tool they use with basic checking and savings accounts and we need to offer our customers options,” says Ann Watkins, a senior vice-president in the Card and Payments Solution Group. Accordingly, however, when the bank first made the decision to go with an internally developed card, it needed to measure risk with a finer gauge—and it wanted more control over credit policy and credit card terms generally. Reentry into credit cards after a five-year hiatus exceeded expectations, says Anne Watkins, senior vice-president in Wachovia’s Card and Payments Solution Group In Brief ronment that lets users change rules and generate credit products with custom terms, such as offering reward points or discounts based on the total customer profile. Zoot was first in the market to provide a graphical user interface that allows clients to make changes to the rules. “This was the first time in years that a large financial institution has built a credit card platform, albeit with a vendor’s contribution in key application areas, in years,” says Dennis Dixon, president. Zoot was chosen for its experience in credit and technical excellence—its operational footprint can support ten times its own current level of production. “We had an aggressive timeframe,” says Ann Watkins. “Working with a technology partner, as an application service provider, let us build the origination system quickly, but it also let us customize as much as we wanted,” Watkins says. “We also needed instant decisioning and Zoot’s technology could support that requirement.” Wachovia has done well with credit over the last two years. And, when the economy seemed all sunny skies, the program benefited. “We actually underestimated the response. Our first solicitation was successful,” says Watkins. The huge response to their first campaign was easily managed without operational stress. IT partner lets bank customize A key technical building block, even a foundation, in this operation was a rapidly-deployed IT system from Zoot, a leading provider of advanced instant credit decision making and loan origination systems based in Bozeman, Mont. Wachovia incorporated the vendor’s WebRules, described as an “instant graphical user interface” (i.e., changes made to the interface are rendered instantly) envi- 50 JUNE 2008/ABA BANKING JOURNAL Subscribe at www.ababj.com http://www.zootweb.com http://www.ababj.com/subscribe http://www.ababj.com/subscribe http://www.ababj.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ABA Banking Journal - June 2008

ABA Banking Journal - June 2008 Contents Editor’s Column Do Fee-based Services Have an Edge? Snapshot: Net Interest Margins Vary Sharply with Size 100th Anniversary: Then & Now Letters ABA Resources ABA Chairman’s Position "What? No Annual Surprise Bonus?" Pass the Aspirin Cover Story: Top Community Banks: How They Did... ...And How They Did It Charter Bank First East Side Savings Bank Mackinac Financial Corp. The Peoples Bank Managing the E-mail Monster In Brief Handling PEPs in the Age of "L'affaire Spitzer" Mailbox Banker’s Mart To Advertise/Index of Advertisers The Economy

ABA Banking Journal - June 2008

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