Gap Inc. is parting ways with its longtime credit-card issuer, Synchrony Financial , and moving the business to Barclays PLC.
Barclays will take over Gap’s private-label and co-branded credit cards, including Athleta, Banana Republic and Old Navy, Gap confirmed Tuesday morning after The Wall Street Journal reported on the decision. The portfolio includes some 11 million open card accounts, according to people familiar with the matter, with total balances of roughly $3.8 billion at the end of March.
Synchrony has been issuing cards for Gap—one of its five largest retail card partners—for about 22 years. The relationship, one of the bank’s longest-running card partnerships, includes private-label cards that can be used only at company stores and co-branded credit cards that cardholders can use at nearly any merchant. Its Gap contract is scheduled to end in April 2022.
The retailer’s co-branded credit cards will also change networks, Gap said, moving from Visa Inc. to Mastercard Inc.
In a regulatory filing early Tuesday, Synchrony said it expects to recognize a gain from the sale of the card portfolio and will spend about $1 billion to repurchase shares and make investments.
