FAQs

• Can I have some background on SAV Credit?

SAV Credit was founded in January 2001 and developed by a specialist management team from within the credit card industry. It is the UK’s leading specialist credit card company and operates the aqua and marbles cards.

It acquired the marbles brand from HSBC in October 2007 and following a transaction involving the purchase of the Citi-branded credit card portfolio in the UK from CitiFinancial Europe PLC in March 2010 now has more than a million customers

• What products does SAV offer?

SAV Credit offers the aqua credit card which is designed for the underserved market in the UK. The aqua card is a Mastercard accepted at 25 million places worldwide exactly like other Mastercard products.

It operates the marbles credit card (also a Mastercard) and the Citi-branded UK credit card portfolio which are not currently open to new applications.

• What are SAV’s growth strategies?

SAV Credit has extensive experience of the credit card market and has built specialist expertise in growing and managing credit card portfolios.

We have a highly experienced management team with a long and distinguished record in the financial services industry who have ambitious targets for growth and the commitment and enthusiasm to deliver.

SAV’s expertise at buying and managing credit card portfolios was demonstrated by our purchase of the marbles portfolio which it bought from HSBC in 2007, and more recently through a transaction involving the purchase of the Citi-branded UK credit card portfolio in March 2010.

• What is your target market?

We pioneered lending to the underserved market when we launched the aqua card in 2001 and have built our own highly sophisticated models for assessing creditworthiness for responsible lending. We constantly update those models and will continue to refine them.

As part of our specialist expertise in managing credit card portfolios we also operate marbles and now the Citi-branded portfolio – both of which have a broad customer base spread across all demographics.

• Who owns SAV Credit and how is it funded?

We are owned by management and a group of private equity investors which include Palamon Capital Partners, Electra Private Equity and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners. The company has built its investor base to ensure it has sufficient equity and debt capital to grow well into the future. We are a well-funded business with a very strong management team.

• What is the relationship between SAV Credit and CCAM?

The Citi-branded credit card portfolio transaction was made through a company called CC Asset Management Limited (CCAM) which is a special purpose vehicle managed by SAV Credit, and backed by Värde Partners, a leading international investment advisor specialising in credit markets.