Santander JetBlue Credit Card Qorus Banking Innovation Awards 2013

Since 2006, Puerto Rico had been experiencing a complicated economic environment as the island continued to suffer the effects of a prolonged recession. Unemployment levels continued to be historically high and the perspective of credit rating agencies remained negative. This difficult scenario negatively impacted the financial system, specifically the loan and credit card portfolios, which both continued to decrease. In order to grow, BSPR needed to decode the credit card market and its customers to analyze their needs and likes. BSPR led efforts, along with JetBlue Airways and MasterCard, its global credit card partner, to design the Santander JetBlue MasterCard, a co-branded loyalty credit card. Focusing on an pioneering credit card product that addressed the dissatisfaction with existing loyalty programs, was BSPR’s aim to drive customer loyalty, usage and engagement, thus, leading to profitability and growth for the credit card business. Therefore, positioning BSPR as the leader in the local co-branded credit card market. At BSPR, the efforts required the support of the Credit Card Business, Technology, Legal, Marketing & Corporate Communications, Commercial Branches, Call Center, Database Marketing and Compliance departments and worked alongside the Technology, Legal, Marketing and Business teams of JetBlue and MasterCard. More than one hundred people were involved in the project. It only took three and half months to implement, half of what was originally estimated and a period of time recognized as outstanding by competitors and card associations’ standards and never before seen at Santander. Santander has a New Product Development Model that has proven to be successful. It has been implemented in the eighteen countries where the Bank issues credit cards and is focused on decoding the customer in order to design attractive, innovative and relevant products.