Barclays to acquire Gap credit portfolio from Synchrony Bank for $3.8bn.

Barclays agreed to acquire Gap credit portfolio, a credit card platform co-branded with clothing company Gap, from Synchrony Bank, a digital banking platform, for $3.8bn. Completion of the acquisition is expected in Q2 2022. The deal comes at a time when banks worldwide are trying to expand fee-earning businesses such as credit cards, amid rock-bottom central bank interest rates that have squashed profits from their other main business of lending. The deal follows an agreement in April between Barclays and Gap under which they would issue co-branded credit cards to Gap customers in 2022.