The high stakes poker game between VISA USA and CitiGroup has apparently ended. Both sides confirmed that two of CitiGroup's top executives have quit VISA's U.S. board after failing to get the board's approval to move the VISA logo on CitiGroup's card to the back of the card and to prominently re-brand the card "CitiCard". CitiGroup has reportedly pledged to move its credit card business to MasterCard. It has been rumored that CitiGroup is negotiating a deal with MasterCard that will lower CitiGroup's card association dues as well as give it the blessing to move the MasterCard logo to the back of the card. The developments could have far reaching effects on the bank credit card landscape. According to CardData (www.carddata.com), CitiGroup's 33.5 million VISA cards represents about 13.5% of VISA's U.S. total cards-in-force. Based on charge volume, CitiGroup's portfolio generates about $68 billion in charge volume or roughly 14% of VISA's estimated $475 billion 1998 charge volume, according to CardData (www.carddata.com). If CitiGroup successfully migrates all of its VISA cards to MasterCards, then MasterCard stands to add nearly seven percentage points to its market share. Of far greater impact is the prospect of other issuers joining the MasterCard migration, should CitiGroup successfully lower its costs and increase its marketing flexibility.

	           1998  EOY  BANK  CREDIT  CARD  TOP  TEN  SCOREBOARD
Issuer            98 RECV        TOT ACCTS         98 VOL      VISA CARDS 
1. Bank One*    $69.9 billion    44.1 million    $99.2 billion    80%  
2. Citigroup    $69.6 billion    40.5 million    $140.6 billion   46% 
3. MBNA*        $53.7 billion    27.2 million    $79.5 billion    47% 
4. Discover*    $32.5 billion    38.0 million    $58.0 billion     0% 
5. Chase        $32.2 billion    21.0 million    $46.8 billion    53%
6. B of A*      $21.0 billion    18.2 million    $53.2 billion    70%
7. Fleet*       $15.1 billion     7.5 million    $15.9 billion    66%
8. Household    $14.3 billion    14.4 million    $34.6 billion    20%
9. Cap One      $14.3 billion    16.7 million    $26.2 billion    69% 
10. Providian   $11.6 billion    10.9 million    $11.6 billion    95%

MBNA figure includes non-US data of $4.8 billion in recv, 1.2 million in
accts and $8.6 billion in volume;  Discover data as of fiscal quarter
ending 11-30-98; Bank One data includes $18.1 billion of receivables for
First Chicago; B of A data includes $10.3 billion of receivables for
NationsBank; Fleet data are preliminary, the issuer has not released 4Q
card portfolio; In general other data may include acquisitions closed by
year-end 1998.  SOURCE: CardData (www.carddata.com)