Diners Club recruits chief to lead revival

Diners Club has appointed management consultant Kathryn Cosgrove as marketing chief.

Her appointment comes in the midst of a company restructure following Diners Club’s acquisition by Citigroup last year.

The new head of product and marketing, formerly in charge of corporate strategy and brand development at McKinsey, will report to recently appointed chief executive Ian Mathie (MW May 20).

Cosgrove’s brief will be to revive the charge card’s UK business and finalise the structure of its marketing department, which presently consists of just six staff.

Diners Club’s last marketing director was Jonathan Lavercombe, who was responsible for hiring agency Tullo Marshall Warren. He left in 2002.

The company’s market share has fallen over the past decade and it faces stiff competition from rivals American Express, MasterCard and Visa.

Diners Club was expected to consider merging its UK operation with Citibank after Citigroup bought the charge card company’s European operation from Italian fashion and luxury goods retailer GPT Holdings last September.