Seafirst Expands Card Delivery Systems

This Seattle bank isn't afraid to try new things with its offerings of credit and transaction cards. By Joe Asher Mr. Asher, a former senior editor of this magazine, writes on business topics from Seattle. Step up to an automated teller at Seattle-based Seafirst Bank. If it's your first time, get set for a surprise: Besides all the usual electronic banking services that most banks offer, the ATM also sells postage stamps-12 stamps to a sheet-with the cost debited electronically against the user's account. Seafirst was the first bank in the country to make this service available, after conducting a pilot project last year in cooperation with the U.S. Post Office. Every Seafirst ATM offers at least one non-bank product, says John F. Kresge, vice-president for delivery systems at Seafirst. Other non-bank products sold through its ATMs are monthly mass transit bus passes and gift certificates for use at shopping malls. Not all are offered at each of the 351 ATMs in most of Seafirst's 192 branches. But they all illustrate how three different themes come together in what Seafirst does with plastic cards and ATMs. First, adding new convenience features and versatility are ways of differentiating the bank from the competition: they reinforce the bank's image as a market leader. Second, they help tie existing customers more closely to the bank and attract new ones. Third, plastic cards and ATMs have more uses as delivery systems than much of the banking industry has recognized so far. Large ATM network. Seafirst is alone in the Northwest and almost alone in the country in the unusually large number of electronic networks whose cardholders can access its ATMs. These include Visa, MasterCard, CIRRUS, Plus, Sears' Discover card, and Versatel, a card that is issued by Seafirst (which is a BankAmerica Corp. subsidiary), Bank of America in California, and BofA subsidiaries in other western states. Another Northwest regional network, The Exchange, will gain access later this year. Credit card activity. With over 1.1 million accounts and around $1.4 billion in outstandings, Seafirst is the largest card issuer and processor in the Pacific Northwest and among the top 20 in the country. (The bank offers MasterCard and Visa.) Referring to the bank's credit cards, Milt Fitch, vice-president and manager of product development, says, We had a pretty good year in 1990, despite a tough economic climate, with accounts up 12.9% and outstandings up 15.8%. It helps that our card processing is done in a state-of-the-art facility, and our operating costs are among the very best in the nation for an operation of this size. Travel card. Seafirst's new corporate travel card is a good example of the bank's willingness to innovate. According to Ken Breer, vice-president and manager of corporate card marketing, Seafirst had corporate travel cards in some form for many years, but two years ago it teamed up with Alaska Airlines to establish a card linked to an affinity group with a frequent flyer program. In its third generation, introduced a year ago, the Seafirst CorporateCard-a MasterCard-took on additional features. Much like corporate travel cards from T&E issuers like American Express, the Seafirst CorporateCard offers a full range of management reports, travel insurance, liability protection, and warranties on many purchases. But it goes further: rental car insurance offered through the card provides primary, not secondary coverage. Frequent-traveler mileage accrues to both the company and the cardholder. The cardholder earns mileage for air miles traveled, while the company earns mileage for air miles, rental car expenses, and hotel and motel expenses. The company can put credited mileage into a pool to be used for its future travel expenses. Since Alaska Airlines flies to all major West Coast points, plus Alaska and Mexico, it's a natural choice for many business travelers based in the Northwest. …