New Morgan charging past Citi's plastic; Bank One merger changes balance of credit power; Citi not likely to sit still.(News)

Crain's New York Business, March, 2004 by Fredrickson, Tom

Byline: tom fredrickson Determined to promote its own brand five years ago, Citigroup Inc. demanded that Visa allow the bank to relegate the charge company's logo to the back side of Citi credit cards. When Visa balked, Citigroup simply shifted its business to MasterCard, which was only too happy to alter its longstanding policy to appease the clear market leader.

Once Citigroup had that kind of power. Soon it will not. The pending merger of Bank One Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. will create a credit card issuer that by some measures is even bigger and more aggressive than Citigroup. To maintain its leadership, Citigroup may have to overhaul its offerings or even make some acquisitions or mergers of its own. No big deal "When Citigroup was the...

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