TD hires former Citi executive to run U.S. credit card business

TD Bank has hired longtime Citigroup executive Christopher Fred as its new head of U.S. credit cards and unsecured lending.

Fred, who spent nearly a decade at Citi, will oversee TD's credit card portfolio, as well as its card and financing partnerships with Target, Nordstrom, Ethan Allen and other retailers. 

He previously managed Citi's U.S. proprietary card portfolio, benefits and rewards for cardmembers and development of new products during his second stint with the New York company. He also worked for Citi from 2012 to 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

TD Bank

"It's a very exciting time for our cards business, and we're pleased to have Chris at the helm,"  Matt Boss, head of consumer products at TD, said in a press release Monday. 

TD, the U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank, launched a Double Up credit card last year that offers customers 1% cash back on purchases and an additional 1% when rewards are redeemed into a TD deposit account. It also has expanded its retail partnerships as well as a point-of-sale installment loan product called TD Fit.

Fred, who started in July, also worked at American Express for 15 years and spent eight months at Goldman Sachs, where he led partnerships and project management at Apple Card, a major plank of the New York bank's entry into consumer banking, according to LinkedIn.

He took over the role from Jason Thacker, who moved onto a Toronto-based role with TD earlier this year and is now senior vice president of wealth shared services.

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TD's U.S. retail segment had an average of $13.1 billion in credit card loans in the quarter that ended on July 31, up from $12.3 billion a year earlier. 

The banking industry has seen card activity rebound over the past year, as inflation, elevated spending activity and decreased card payments led consumers to build up their balances again. U.S. consumers had roughly $890 billion in credit card debt during the second quarter, up by 13% from a year earlier, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

TD is looking to expand further in the U.S. with its proposed $13.4 billion acquisition of Memphis, Tennessee-based First Horizon, which is pending regulatory approval. Several community groups asked regulators at a hearing in August to avoid signing off on the deal until they reach an agreement with the banks to increase their investments in underserved areas.

The bank is targeting a Nov. 27 date for completing the deal before the price tag for the acquisition rises by 65 cents per share. The two companies have set a deadline of Feb. 27, 2023, though they left the door open to extending it by three months if needed.