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New York's Citicorp, which already has 20% of the traveler's check market, plans to sell its Citibank checks through Carte Blanche. Citicorp bought Carte Blanche in the early 1960s, but was forced to spin it off when the Justice Department objected on antitrust grounds. A federal judge has approved Citicorp's plan to buy back Carte Blanche, and the trustbusters are not likely to block the reunion. Partly because of rising competition from bank-issued cards, Carte Blanche has fared poorly and could well use Citicorp's muscle.
The lure of the card business, and the reason that the newcomers are prepared to sell checks without a fee, lies in the "float"—all that money from checks that have been bought but not yet cashed. The check issuer has free use of the funds. Thus American Express's pitchman, Karl Maiden, urges returning vacationers to keep their unspent checks in their pockets as "emergency money"—and his campaign is working nicely. Although no firm returns are in yet on the Maiden campaign, American Express studies indicate that people already keep approximately $1 billion in cash stashed away for rainy days. If consumers could be persuaded to convert that cash to traveler's checks, it would substantially increase the float. American Express's float totals about $2 billion at any moment; the company invests this money, mainly in long-term tax-exempt securities, and pockets the income.
Outwardly, American Express shows no sign of concern about the increased competition ahead. Louis Gerstner, head of the company's card division, says he is "respectful" of some of his rivals, especially Diner's Club, but is skeptical about the bank cards that want to add traveler's checks. The business, he says, "may look simple, but it is very, very complex, requiring significant economies of scale and control that take years to develop." Yet many industry analysts believe American Express is facing some tough problems: while there is less and less room for it to grow in the lucrative travel-and-entertainment market that it pioneered, it is confronted by rising competition there and in other fields from many companies, notably Citicorp.
The rush into traveler's checks has inspired some odd alliances and rivalries. Although Citibank issues Master Charge cards and is a member of the consortium that licenses the Master Charge system, its parent Citicorp has gone to court to try to block Master Charge's entry into traveler's checks, charging unfair competition. Citibank's argument: Master Charge, through the banks that issue the card, would be able to control which traveler's checks the customer bought, thus shutting Citibank out of the business.