Barclays said on Friday its US arm will purchase a $3.8 billion Gap credit card portfolio co-branded with apparel retailer The Gap Inc, as the British bank proceeds with a methodology of joining forces with enormous brands to grow in the U.S.
Barclays is purchasing the portfolio from Synchrony Bank, and the arrangement is billed to close in the second quarter of next year.
The arrangement comes when banks globally are attempting to grow fee-earning businesses like credit cards, in the midst of rock bottom central bank loan costs that have crushed profits from their main business of lending.
The arrangement follows an understanding in April among Barclays and Gap under which they would issue co-branded credit cards to Gap customers in 2022.
Barclays has lately joined forces with brands including American Airlines, JetBlue, and Wyndham Hotels.
The co-branding bargains are a way for Barclays to acquire clients in a market where its own branding comes up short on the span of local adversaries like JPMorgan and Citibank
The bank has moved recently from attempting to push MasterCard’s through its own brand, to joining forces with more established names in ventures like travel and leisure.
The Gap acquisition, which Barclays said is being financed from its current assets, is assessed to lessen the bank’s core capital ratio by around 20 basis points.
