CIBC strikes deal to take over Costco credit card
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and big-box retailer Costco have launched a long-term agreement that makes CIBC the exclusive issuer of Costco Mastercards in Canada.
In the deal announced on Thursday, CIBC also takes over the existing Canadian Costco credit card portfolio, with more than $3 billion in outstanding balances. The move comes as the Big Six banks search for additional sources of revenue to bolster low income from credit cards balances as the COVID-19 pandemic weighs on consumer borrowing.
Retail giant Costco operates 813 warehouses globally and 105 across Canada. The program is expected to start next year.
“Canadian personal and commercial banking is certainly a game of inches given how mature the market is, and so the ability to pick up $3 billion in high-quality credit card balances all in one swoop does not happen every day,” Scotiabank analyst Meny Grauman said in a note to clients.
“The real prize here for CIBC will be the cross-selling opportunities to millions of affluent card holders, only a small portion of which are current CIBC customers.”
The pandemic has put pressure on consumer spending habits. People tucked away cash while confined to their homes and avoided taking on debt through personal loans, including credit cards.
Meanwhile, consumers have turned to new forms of payments programs that offer more flexibility, including buy now, pay later services that allow shoppers to split their payments on purchases into smaller instalments over a set period of time. CIBC introduced its own payment instalment product last year, which charges lower interest rates than most credit cards.
Even as the economy rebounds from pandemic restrictions and consumers return to dining in restaurants, travelling for leisure and shopping in-store, the Big Six banks have yet to see credit card activity return to pre-pandemic levels, according to third-quarter earnings results released last week.
As businesses reopen and vaccination rates rise, CIBC customers are making more purchases on their credit cards than in previous quarters, and the bank is seeing a jump in applications. But balances — which charge higher interest fees than secure lending products such as mortgages — are expected to continue to be low, executives said during a conference call with analysts last week.
U.S. lender Capital One, which is the current issuer of the Costco-branded credit card, is ending its partnership with the retailer. Existing cardholders can continue to use their Capital One card until they receive their new CIBC card in early 2022. The bank said it will announce more details about the program in the next few months.