Bank of America has put its UK credit card business MBNA on the market as it looks to pull out of the country.
MBNA is one of the biggest credit card providers in Europe, and has about $19 billion (£11.6 billion) in credit card loans and several “affinity” own-brand cards for household names including lastminute.com, RSPCA, and Ryanair.
The sale - part of a strategy for the Bank of America to strengthen its balance sheet - leaves 5,000 staff in Britain and Ireland waiting to hear whether their jobs are safe or not over the coming months.
The bank has had a strong presence in Chester for the past 18 years, and the business is still operating while a buyer is sought.
Chief executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Steve Robinson commented: “We will be extremely sad to lose this company, which has become a real part of Chester since it arrived 18 years ago.”
“We are, of course, prepared to do everything possible to welcome the new owners and support them to maintain current levels of employment”.
Bank of America sold its $200 million small business card loans portfolio to Barclays in April, and has also decided to sell its Spanish and Canadian credit card businesses.
