Advanta Corp. has made two key appointments to bolster its nascent international business.
The nation's 14th-largest credit card issuer named Jim Allhusen executive vice president last week.
In June, when Advanta announced a joint venture with Royal Bank of Scotland, it named John F. Mullady, general manager of RBS Advanta, their new company. Mr. Mullady, 48, has moved to Edinburgh, where he has been assembling a small staff for the start-up.
When Mr. Allhusen, 47, joins the Horsham, Pa.-based company in late September, he will be in charge of exporting Advanta's U.S. products and services, including cards, mortgages, home equity loans, leases, and insurance, to overseas markets.
Plus, he will oversee RBS Advanta, which expects to issue MasterCards and Visas in the United Kingdom by yearend.
"Jim has a very extensive background across a fairly broad spectrum of consumer and corporate banking," Mr. Hart said. "His background spans nearly 25 years in marketing and banking, including experience in consumer banking in more than 50 countries."
"We think there's opportunity around the world, primarily in payment systems," but also, mortgages, leasing, and other products, Mr. Hart said. "We really see ourselves as being a consumer services company."
Anat Bird, chief operating officer of Roosevelt Financial Group in St. Louis, noted Mr. Hart's efforts to expand MasterCard International overseas while he was president of the association. "He is now taking that expertise and parlaying it with Advanta," she said. "And he is putting the right people in the right place to do it."
For the past five years, Mr. Allhusen worked for Standard Chartered Bank where - while based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates - he was general manager of the Middle East and South Asia regions. He was responsible for consumer banking, commercial banking, treasury, and various affiliates in 10 countries.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Allhusen served as president of Banc Ohio's credit card operations, and as president of the Midwest division of Household Bank, of which he was a founder.
Mr. Mullady comes to RBS Advanta from the American Vietnam Trading Corp., in New York. As the company's president and CEO he facilitated American business investment and trade in Vietnam.
Previously, Mr. Mullady worked as senior vice president and chief operating officer at First Omni Bank, in Millsboro, Del., where he ran the card operations. He started in the credit card business at the age of 16 at Franklin National Bank and worked his way through various positions in three banks.
In an interview, Mr. Mullady said RBS Advanta will operate as a virtual company. "If you had up to build a card company today, what would you do," he asked, hire hundreds or thousands of employees as many card companies do in the United States? "No, we can do the same thing with 30 people, and use outsourcers. We'll get the best people for the best price."
Already RBS Advanta has hired First Data Resources for processing services, he said.
The subsidiary expects to operate differently from its parent in another way, Mr. Mullady said. Because credit bureaus gather negative information in the United Kingdom, Advanta will build different models. "What we build here we can bring back" to the United States. "It works both ways."
