The Basis of Commercial Bank Card Business Development.

6. New points of the Thesis

This is a practical research topic and therefore, the main goal is still to evaluate the practice thereby providing a basis for proposing appropriate solutions and recommendations. Therefore, our Thesis will have to clarify the content of this concept and therefore, the results of this Thesis are:

Chapter 1

(i) Systematize and clarify some theoretical issues related to card business development in commercial banks.

(ii) Focus on clarifying the characteristics of card services that affect the specific nature of card business development of commercial banks.

(iii) Focus on proposing a system of indicators and models to evaluate the level of card business development in commercial banks, in which, in addition to the indicators to evaluate the level of development from within the commercial bank (through indicators reflecting the quantity and quality), NCS will also use the Servperf model to evaluate and measure the quality of card services from customer reviews of the service by distributing a customer survey when using card services provided by the Lao Agricultural Bank.

(ii) Survey experiences in developing card services from some domestic and foreign commercial banks. NCS considers this a very important requirement because it helps to draw valuable experiences, thereby contributing to the development of card business at the Lao Agricultural Bank in the coming time.

Chapter 2

Based on the general mention of the organizational model of activities as well as the results of some main business activities of the Lao Agricultural Bank, the thesis will focus on systematically and deeply analyzing the current situation of card business development at the Lao Agricultural Bank. From the analysis, the results achieved, the remaining aspects and the causes of the existing problems will be drawn.

Chapter 3

Based on the development orientations of the Lao Bank card market as well as the development orientations of the Lao Agricultural Bank card business until 2025 and vision to 2030, the thesis will propose a system of solutions and recommendations to contribute to the development of card business at the Lao Agricultural Bank in the coming time. Because the solutions are based on in-depth theoretical research and in-depth practical analysis, they will ensure scientific and feasible.

7. Contributions of the Thesis

The completed thesis will have the following basic contributions:

In theory:

- The thesis has clearly shown that the card business content of commercial banks often focuses on 5 basic contents;

- The thesis has affirmed that the content of developing card business of commercial banks must develop both quantity and quality at the same time. In which, quality development is the foundation and decision;

- The thesis has shown that to properly assess the level of card business development of commercial banks, both quantitative and qualitative criteria must be used.

In practice:

- The thesis has studied the card business development of 4 domestic and foreign commercial banks. On that basis, 6 lessons were drawn that can be applied at the Lao Agricultural Bank.

- The thesis properly evaluates the level of card business development of Lao Agricultural Bank because it is not only based on two groups of criteria, but also based on the survey results on the level of satisfaction of customers using Lao Agricultural Bank cards . Therefore, the comprehensive assessment of the current state of card business development of Lao Agricultural Bank, the thesis has pointed out the encouraging results, the limitations, especially the low quality of card services, low satisfaction of customers using cards, loss of card business results ...

- Based on theory, practice, viewpoints, and orientations for developing the Lao card business market, the thesis has proposed 8 solutions. The system of solutions comes from practice, is consistent with the card business orientation of the Lao Agricultural Bank, is analyzed, demonstrated specifically, logically, and should be effective.

highly feasible . At the same time , the thesis also proposes 3 recommendations for the Lao Government, the Lao Central Bank and the Lao Card Association.

8. Structure of the Thesis

In addition to the introduction, conclusion, list of references, list of abbreviations, list of tables and figures, the content of the thesis is structured into 3 chapters:

Chapter 1 : Theoretical basis for card business development of commercial banks.

Chapter 2 : Current status of card business development of Lao Agricultural Bank.

Chapter 3: Solutions to develop card business of Lao Agricultural Bank.

CHAPTER 1

THEORETICAL BASIS OF COMMERCIAL BANK CARD BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

1.1 Overview of Commercial Bank Cards

1.1.1 History of formation and development of Bank cards

The method of payment by card was recorded in 1914. At that time, the American Western Union Company provided a payment service upon customer request, in which the company issued metal cards with information embossed on the card surface to ensure two functions: customer identification and information storage.

Diners Club, the first travel and entertainment (T&E) card was issued in 1949 in the US, by 1955 a series of new cards were born such as Trip Charge, Golden Key, Golden Club, Esquire Club, in 1958, Carde Balnche and American Express were born and dominated the card market. But by 1966, Bank of America supplied the market with Bank Americard card, which later developed into Visa. Then came MasterCard. MasterCard and Visa Card are the two most popular cards in circulation in the world.

In Asia, Japan was the first country to issue JCB cards, a travel and entertainment card issued by Sanwa Bank and developed into an international card organization in 1981. Currently, JCB has become one of the strong card organizations and a major competitor of Amex in the T&E card market. JCB cards operate under an exclusive mechanism, issued directly, and do not accept members like Visa and Master organizations. [ 103 ].

Nowadays, cards have become a convenient and civilized payment tool in buying and selling transactions. Types of cards include Master, Visa, Diners Club, JCB,

American Express is widely used globally and dominates the market.

1.1.2 Concept and characteristics of Bank card

1 . 1 . 2 . 1 Concept

Nowadays, Bank cards have become a popular means of payment in the world. Because it brings many conveniences and benefits to card users such as shopping, withdrawing cash, transferring money, checking account statements, buying and selling transactions via the Internet, paying public service fees, and using borrowed money if accepted by the Bank... However, understanding Bank cards currently has different concepts:

-According to Decision No. 20/2007/QD-NHNN dated May 25, 2007 of the State Bank of Vietnam, Bank cards are defined as follows: "Bank cards are means issued by card-issuing organizations according to the terms and conditions agreed upon by the parties " [28]

- Bank card is a non-cash payment method, born from the method of buying and selling retail goods on credit and developed in conjunction with the application of information technology in the field of banking and finance.  1 

- Bank card is a payment instrument issued by the Bank for customers to use to pay for goods and services or withdraw cash within the scope of their deposit balance or granted credit limit.  2 

- Bank cards are also used to perform services through the automatic transaction system, also known as the ATM self-service system.  3 

From the above concepts, it can be affirmed that a Bank card is a payment instrument issued by a Bank for customers to use to pay for goods and services or withdraw money within the scope of their deposit balance or the granted credit limit.

Regardless of whether it is issued by a financial or non-financial institution, the card is made of plastic in an international standard size and includes basic elements such as: the card's trade mark, the name and logo of the Issuer, the card number, the effective date and the cardholder's name. In addition, the card may also have the name of the company responsible for card payment or some other elements according to the regulations of the international card organization or group...

Most payment cards are made of plastic with 3 layers pressed with high technology. The card has dimensions: 84mm x 54mm x 0.76mm with rounded corners, including 2 sides with full printed elements such as: Trademark of the card, name and logo of the card issuing organization, card number, cardholder name and effective date, etc. and some other elements depending on the regulations of the International Corporations or Card Issuing Associations.

The front of the card consists of the following basic elements:

- Brand name and/or logo of the issuing bank or card organization: Each type of card has its own unique symbol, characteristic of the card issuing organization. This is considered a security factor, against counterfeiting.

- Card number: This number is unique to each cardholder, embossed on the card and reprinted on the bill when the cardholder pays by card.

- Cardholder's name: The name of the individual if it is a personal card, the name of the authorized person if it is a company card.

- Card validity period: Is the period during which the card is allowed to be in circulation. Depending on the type of card, the card's final validity date or the first and last dates of card use may be recorded.

- Security characters on the card, serial number of the issuance batch: Signature, photo of the cardholder, 3D relief image (or chip for electronic cards).

The back of the card has the following basic elements:

- Magnetic strip contains information such as: card number, expiration date, cardholder name, issuing bank, other security check factors.

- Cardholder's signature strip: The merchant compares this signature with the signature when making card payments.

Front and back of Tourism Bank Visa card

1.1.3 Classification of Bank cards

Bank cards are classified based on different criteria:

Bank cards are divided into 5 types :

- Embossing Card: is a type of card made using embossing techniques. On the surface of the card, necessary information is embossed. Nowadays, people do not use this type of card anymore because the production technique is too rudimentary and easy to counterfeit.