Guru to head Bank One Europe drive

US credit card company Bank One International has appointed an American marketing guru to spearhead its drive into the European market.

The company, which set up its European headquarters in Cardiff at the end of last year, has appointed James Corcoran from New York bank Citigroup as its first chief executive officer.

Corcoran is responsible for developing the fledgling UK operation and taking it into new European markets. The development is expected to create about 1,000 new jobs many of them in marketing over the next five years.

Bank One International offers credit cards in the UK, the US and Canada. Its Cardiff operation employs 150 staff, with a skeleton marketing department.

Corcoran specialises in international business expansion and has worked in a number of senior marketing roles. At Citigroup he was responsible for developing the bank’s worldwide distribution network as managing director of global sales. Prior to that he spent three years at IBM, where he was general manager of marketing and sales in the worldwide consumer division.

Corcoran also has 15 years of international marketing experience at American Express.