Barclays in talks to take over Goldman's GM-branded credit cards - report

(Sharecast News) - Barclays is reportedly in talks with US banking giant Goldman Sachs to acquire $2bn in credit card balances from its co-branded credit programme with General Motors. According to the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Barclays is the leading candidate to take over the credit card programme, which has roughly $2bn of balances outstanding.

The program, launched in 2022, allows customers to earn loyalty points to spend on General Motors brands, but has been on Goldman's chopping black since last year after struggling to add more customers.

US Bancorp and Bread Financial were potential suitors to take over the balances, but Barclays has now emerged as the favourite, the WSJ said, citing sources close to the matter.

Barclays is said to have initially bid on the GM credit-card programme in 2020, but was outbid by Goldman. However, Goldman has been under pressure to step back from consumer lending after its Platform Solutions division lost $6bn in pre-tax terms over the past three years.

According to Tuesday's report, an agreement could be struck by the summer, though there is no certainty that Barclays will clinch the deal.

Barclays' share price was up 0.7% at 205.1p by 1202 in London.