P.M. BRIEFING : Chase Buys Big Credit Card Portfolio
<i> From Times wire service</i> s
NEW YORK —
Chase Manhattan Bank will purchase the credit card portfolio of Michigan National Corp. for more than $220 million, cementing Chase’s position as the nation’s No. 2 bank credit card issuer, it was announced today.
The portfolio, held by the Independence One Bank N.A. subsidiary of Michigan National, consists of more than 1 million Visas and MasterCards with outstanding balances totaling about $1.1 billion.
Chase called the acquisition the largest in the history of the credit card industry.
The addition of the portfolio will increase Chase’s cardholder base to 7 million accounts with total outstandings in excess of $8 billion.
