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British mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester plc said it is selling its credit card business so it can focus on its core businesses of retail loans, deposits and mortgages. The Financial Times reported the business will be sold to Wilmington, Del.-based MBNA Corp. for almost pounds 100 million ($156 million), though officials at Alliance & Leicester and MBNA declined to confirm the report. The Alliance & Leicester official said the bank will distribute credit cards issued by the party that buys the business-- just as it distributes the insurance and pension programs of Legal & General plc. By focusing strictly on deposits and loans, Alliance & Leicester is adopting a similar business model to mortgage bank Northern Rock plc. But Alliance & Leicester is a far less efficient organization than Northern Rock. For example, Alliance & Leicester has a cost-to-income ratio of 58.8%, compared with Northern Rock's 30.8%. Media reports have repeatedly said Alliance & Leicester could be taken over, though some analysts say none of the bigger British banks are interested in doing so. --Peter Moreira www.TheDeal.com