Card Shuffle
August 15, 2011 11:00 PM
Bloomberg News
'Noncore' Assets
Bank of America said on Monday it would sell its $8.6 billion Canadian credit card portfolio to TD Bank, as part of B of A’s efforts to refocus on core businesses. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Less Affinity
Also on Monday, B of A disclosed that it has sold back to Banco Santander's Sovereign Bank a portfolio B of A had serviced on behalf of Sovereign. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Deconsolidation
Sovereign's decision to buy back its card portfolio followed a similar move by Regions Financial, which in June bought back a $1 billion credit card portfolio from B of A. The deals reversed some of the decades-long consolidation in the U.S. credit card industry.
U.S. Exit
HSBC agreed on August 10 to
Recommitting?
Citigroup, which has been trying to sell a $45 billion credit card portfolio since 2009, has been holding out for a higher premium, analysts say. Now Citi is reconsidering holding onto the business, according to media reports. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Partnerships
Before announcing its acquisition of HSBC's U.S. credit card portfolio, Capital One in April bought a $3.7 billion private-label card portfolio of retailer Kohl's from JPMorgan Chase. The portfolio included more than 20 million Kohl's customer accounts. (Image: Bloomberg News)
Seeking Buyers
Target in January announced it was seeking a buyer for its store-branded credit card portfolio, which totaled about $6.3 billion as of April 30. The retailer said in a May regulatory filing that its ability to sell the portfolio is "affected by the limited number of potential buyers, an inactive market, the complexity of the contemplated transaction, and the portfolio size." (Image: Bloomberg News)
