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Bank of America Plans to Unload International Card Portfolios

Bank of America Corp. said Monday that it is selling an $8.6 billion credit card portfolio in Canada and plans to unload $19 billion of card loans in Europe as it works to exit the international card business.The Charlotte, N.C., company has agreed to sell its Canadian portfolio to TD Bank Group for an undisclosed amount, though TD said in a separate release that it will pay a "modest premium" on the portfolio.

BofA also is putting up for sale portfolios in the United Kingdom and Ireland after striking a deal Aug. 3 to sell its Spain card business to Apollo Capital Management  and a $200 million small-business card portfolio to Barclays in April.

Brian Moynihan, BofA's chief executive, said in a press release that the moves are part of the bank's efforts to focus on "core customer groups."

"While the credit card remains a fundamental core product for our U.S. customers, an international consumer card business under another brand is not consistent with that strategy," Moynihan said.

In the U.S., BofA has also been focusing more on its own card portfolios versus affinity programs. In June, Regions Financial Corp. announced it was buying $1 billion of card loans from FIA Card Services, a subsidiary of BofA. In the press release on Monday, BofA said it also recently sold a Sovereign Bank credit card portfolio.

BofA said the sale of its Canadian portfolio is expected to close in the fourth quarter and should have a positive effect on its Tier 1 common and tangible common equity. TD said the acquisition will add 1.8 million active accounts to its existing Canadian credit card base of about 4 million active accounts.

As of June 30, BofA had $26 billion in non-U.S. consumer credit card loans, down 5.2% from Dec. 31, according to the company's most recent quarterly report.

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