BoA to exit Canada, Europe credit card businesses

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC – News) plans to sell its credit card business in Canada to TD Bank Group and will exit its card business in the UK and Ireland.

The agreement with TD Bank covers an $8.6 billion card portfolio, according to a Bank of America statement on Monday. It did not disclose the value of the transaction.

TD Group said it will pick up 1.8 million active accounts from the deal and that it would pay a “modest premium” for the card receivables.

The proposed card sale comes as the biggest U.S. bank seeks ways to bulk up its capital cushion as it fights lawsuits and credit problems related to its ill-fated acquisition of home mortgage lender Countrywide Financial three years ago.

The bank has lost more than $22 billion in its consumer mortgage division in the last four quarters. It agreed in June to pay $8.5 billion to mortgage securities investors and is fighting numerous lawsuits challenging the settlement and other mortgage issues.

Bank of America said it agreed on August 3 to sell its card business in Spain to Apollo Capital Management. In April, it sold a small business lending portfolio in the UK to Barclays (LSE:BARC.L – News).