Coles announces joint venture with GE Capital Australia

SUPERMARKET giant Coles is pushing further into the personal finance arena with a new joint venture.

SUPERMARKET giant Coles has signalled its push further into the personal finance sector

by announcing a joint venture with GE Capital Australia.

Coles-branded credit cards are provided under an agreement with GE Capital but now the two intend to create a 50-50 joint venture and seek to deliver increased financial services in Australia.

It coincides with the supermarket giant today becoming the first retailer in the world to combine card payment loyalty card information into an all-in-one “mobile wallet” for customers.

NO CARD REQUIRED: Now you can purchase with your mobile phone

Coles general manager of financial services Richard Wormald said the joint venture would

help provide customers with additional value and offerings including benefits from the FlyBuys rewards scheme and grocery discounts.

“We’ve had a relationship with GE since the mid-90s but that’s been a traditional partnership, white-label agreement where GE was always the issuer behind the cards whereas today we are forming a new business jointly with them,’’ he said.

“We are focusing on credit cards and personal lending products initially but we will continue to look at a range of other sectors and broaden our range of products.’’

Coles continues to make its mark in the financial services sector and now has more than 350,000 car and home insurance policies as well as 400,000 credit card accounts.

It also recently added life insurance to its suite of products.

The retail giant has remained tight-lipped on revealing what other types of products they plan to deliver but it could eventually include bank accounts.

Mr Wormald said the move by Coles to align with GE Capital was similar to relationships globally between retail giants and financial institutions.

“If you look overseas most other retailers that are in financial services have done so through a joint venture, Tesco joined in a joint venture with the Royal Bank of Scotland in the mid ’90s,’’ he said.

Relevant regulatory licenses and approvals need to be obtained but if successful the business will commence operating in 2015.