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Life Insurance Corp. will issue its first credit card through Corporation Bank, which also is based in India, a spokesperson for the insurance firm tells CardLine Global. The spokesperson declined to provide more details about the launch, but a report in India's Rupee Times newspaper says the card will start going to customers by 1 April. Corporation Bank issues Visa-branded credit cards. The insurance firm repeatedly pushed back the date of its card launch because of unspecified technical problems and uncertainty about its issuing partner (CardLine Global, 19 Feb.). The insurance company has some 220 million policyholders, all of whom are potential cardholders, Prathima Rajan, an India-based banking analyst for United States-based Celent LLC, tells CardLine Global. It has signed agreements with 31 banks that enable it to sell insurance products through branches, Rajan says. Corporation Bank operated 1,036 branches and deployed 1,023 ATMs as of 31 Dec.
