The American Banker published a table of the top 140 credit card portfolios and their YoY increases on September 30, 2021. The short story for the pool of players:
- In aggregate, the top 140 card issuers portfolios amounted to $787.9 billion, less than 1% higher than the Prior Year, which was $780.8 billion.
- Growth was primarily at the top 25 issuers, where portfolios totaled $786.2 billion versus $776.0 billion.
- The top 25 issuers dominated the market shares of the 115 other card issuers. The top issuers maintained a 99.4% share of the pool.
- Goldman Sachs, which launched the Mastercard-branded Apple Card in 2019, was the big winner, almost doubling its portfolio from $3.4 billion to $6.8 billion (a 97.3% jump.)
With Goldman Sachs’ January 10, 2022 launch of the GM Card, a recent co-brand win from Capital One, expect the firm to approach the $10 billion mark by the 2022 year-end.
The top ten credit card portfolios in the U.S. are Citi ($139.5 billion), Chase ($127.2 billion), Capital One ($100.7 billion), Bank of America ($77.0 billion), Synchrony ($75.7 billion), Discover ($70.2 billion), American Express ($61.6 billion), Wells Fargo ($36.1 billion), U.S. Bancorp ($22.1 billion), and Barclays US ($20.8 billion).
Credit card volumes in total steadied after the COVID burn-off. Seasonally adjusted revolving debt dropped nearly $100 billion, from $1.09 trillion in 2019 to $974.6 billion in 2020. The latest numbers sit at $1.04 trillion, which is near the recent record posted in 2018 when the metric was $1.04 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank.
Something that stands out about the top ten players is the importance of co-branded credit cards. Of the top ten issuers, Citi is a traditionally strong player in co-brands, aiming at the iconic names in retail. Chase has its strategy aimed at travel and groceries. Capital One has been shining with its recent Walmart win; Synchrony has been in the space for decades. American Express has a wide range of travel co-brands, U.S. Bancorp has some interesting relationships in regional stores, and Barclay has a stated goal to build its business around co-branded credit cards.
As noted in our recent co-brand report, COVID brought many changes, but one thing that did not shift is the importance of co-branded credit cards to maintain the portfolio book and accelerate growth. If you have any questions, keep an eye on Goldman Sachs!
Overview by Brian Riley, Director, Credit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group