Shoppers Charge Accounts Co. to Become TD Retail Card Services

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Shoppers Charge Accounts Co. to Become TD Retail Card Services
- Re-branding of private label credit card company corresponds withenhanced product and service offerings and a new approach to whathas become a commodity business
MAHWAH, N.J., June 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Shoppers Charge Accounts Co.,a top-10 provider of private label credit programs and a divisionof TD Banknorth Inc., announced today that it is changing its nameto TD Retail Card Services.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080616/NYM107 )
The new name leverages the financial strength and Customer focus ofTD Banknorth's parent company, TD Bank Financial Group, anddovetails with TD Retail Card Services' expansion into the Canadianmarket. As part of its re-branding effort, TD Retail Card Serviceshas also enhanced its product offerings and services, technologiesand marketing initiatives.
"Our decision to rename the company corresponds with an evolutionof our strategy to run a card business with the mindset of aretailer," said TD Retail Card Services President Marc G. Sczesnak."Successful retailers recognize that the level of service andproduct options have a direct effect on their brand. At TD RetailCard Services, we know the value of highly personalized service andcustomized solutions, as Customers and as professionals. We alsounderstand the importance of a retailer's brand. Today we arebringing this mindset together with the resources of TD."
The TD name and the backing of one the largest financial servicefirms in North America also provide the resources necessary topartner with middle-market and large retailers in start-up or in aportfolio acquisition capacity.
"As we move forward under our new name, our opportunity is to thinkbeyond the transaction. It's all about getting to a Customer'spayment preferences and supporting retailers to get 'spend' andshopping 'frequency' to new levels," Sczesnak explained. "The daysof dictating how people pay are over. It's up to retailers to havea loyalty currency that celebrates the relationship in ways thatinvolve the Customer. Mid-size retailers know how to accomplishthis better than anyone. We want them to know we're thinking thesame way."
The re-branding is being directed by an expanded senior managementteam led by Sczesnak, who joined the division late last year afterbeing at the marketing helm of two of retailing's largest privatelabel card programs. During his years at the credit card operationsof Sears and Macy's, he helped to extensively grow these programsand extend the product suite. Shortly after his arrival, Sczesnakmoved to add to the division's management team bench strength byrecruiting leaders from top retailers and issuers.
TD Retail Card Services was founded in 1937 as Shoppers ChargeAccounts Co. and was acquired by Hudson United Bank in 1994. Thecompany became a division of TD Banknorth in January 2006 andcurrently ranks as the seventh-largest provider of private labelcredit, with over one million cards in circulation between the US,Canada, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Its client listtoday includes the retail operations of prominent retailers andmanufacturers including Movado, Fred Meyer, Pfaltzgraff, Bang &Olufsen, The Source By Circuit City, Briggs and Stratton, B. Moss,Carlyle & Co. and many others.
About TD Retail Card Services
Based in Mahwah, N.J., TD Retail Card Services (formerly ShoppersCharge Accounts Co.) ranks among the nation's largest private labelcredit card companies. A division of TD Banknorth, the companylaunches and administers new credit card portfolios forbrick-and-mortar, internet and catalog merchants, and acquiresretailers' existing credit card portfolios. For more information,visit http://www.TDRetailCardServices.com .
About TD Banknorth
TD Banknorth is a leading banking and financial services companyheadquartered in Portland, Maine, and owned by TD Bank FinancialGroup of Toronto, Canada. Following TD Bank Financial Group'sacquisition of Commerce Bancorp Inc. on March 31, 2008, it wasannounced that operations of TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank will becombined. Today, TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank form one of the 20largest commercial banking organizations in the United States withover $119 billion in assets, and provide customers with a fullrange of financial products and services at nearly 1,100 convenientlocations from Maine to Florida. TD Banknorth and Commerce Bank aretrade names of TD Bank, N.A. For more information, visit http://www.TDBanknorth.com and http://www.commerceonline.com .