Barclays signs agreement to become exclusive issuer of GM credit card programme
Barclays US Consumer Bank has signed a long-term credit card partnership agreement with General Motors (GM), through which it will become “the exclusive issuer of the GM Rewards Mastercard and the GM Business Mastercard in the United States starting next summer”.
Barclays signs credit card partnership agreement with GM
The bank will replace Goldman Sachs as the issuer of the US automotive giant’s credit card programme. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Goldman Sachs had previously beaten a rival offer from Barclays to acquire GM’s credit card business from previous issuer Capital One back in 2020 in a deal worth a reported $2.5 billion.
However, reports that Goldman was looking to sell the business to a new issuer emerged in November last year, with The Wall Street Journal reporting in April that Barclays was leading the race to take over the programme.
GM and Barclays say the bank will be “acquiring the card programme’s receivables from the current issuer next year”, with the deal serving to boost the bank’s credit card portfolio in the US as it looks to “build upon its growth strategy announced last February”.
Barclays and GM say current cardmembers “can continue to use their cards for everyday purchases” and will receive details and instructions prior to the transition “on how to activate their new GM card issued by Barclays”.
Goldman Sachs has been scaling back its retail banking operations over the last year, with JP Morgan Chase also reportedly in talks to replace the bank as Apple’s credit card partner.
