In the last 50 years the financial services industry has evolved from not allowing women the right to have a credit card in their own name to developing cards that specifically target women. Increasing access to credit cards has resulted in significant economic benefits for women – in some countries, for instance, credit cards allowed women the ability to obtain credit without a male guarantor for the first time.
In many countries today, women represent a significant proportion of the credit card market. For instance, in the US women carry the same amount of debt that men do and even tend to have more cards than men do in their wallets. Nevertheless, the financial services industry still has a long way to go in this area, with research showing women paying half a percentage point more in interest rates than men, being disproportionately affected by predatory practices and more likely to be charged late fees. What’s more, credit cards targeting women have historically suffered from “pink-washing,” with card purveyors offering a “feminized” product that does not sufficiently meet women’s real needs and also turns them off from a marketing perspective.
Several GBA banks have seen strong results with tailored credit card strategies for women, but the waters can be choppy to navigate and missteps costly. Using cases from GBA best practice banks and Mastercard, this session explores why a specialized approach that goes beyond a “pink card” is needed to effectively target the Women’s Market for credit cards, what that approach should look like and what the business case actually is for developing cards for the Women’s Market.
Read more about this panel and our other highly informative Summit sessions by checking out the latest 2017 GBA Summit Agenda.
