(Reuters) – Capital One, the online consumer bank and credit card issuer backed by investor Warren Buffett, is considering acquiring credit card lender Discover Financial Services, Bloomberg News said. It was reported as a story.
The report said Capital One is working with advisers to “consider a transaction” with Discover. It added that talks are ongoing and there is no certainty that an agreement will be reached.
Discover and Capital One did not respond to requests for comment.
Discover is considering selling its student loan business in the second half of 2023, and announced in February that it would stop accepting new student loan applications.
In July, the company disclosed a regulatory investigation into some credit card accounts that were misclassified since mid-2007. CEO Roger Hochschild resigned in August.
Discover announced in October that it had agreed to improve consumer compliance and related corporate governance as part of a consent order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Discover and Capital One each posted a 62% drop in fourth-quarter profits in January as rising interest rates increased the risk of consumers defaulting on their credit card debts and mortgages and banks increased provisions for losses on bad loans. , reported a 43% decrease.
(Reporting by Juveria Tabassum; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
