Mumbai, Federal Bank on Thursday announced that it will acquire a part of Standard Chartered Bank’s credit card portfolio in the country to expand its customer base in big cities.
StanC is selling a portfolio comprising single-product relationships and transactions, which will help it sharpen its focus on the affluent segment, as per an official statement.
The portfolio to be acquired comprises up to 4.5 lakh credit cards against Federal Bank‘s existing base of 8 lakh non-co-branded cards and 13 lakh co-branded cards.
Federal Bank’s non-co-branded credit cards receivables would increase by an anticipated 90 per cent, it said.
The deal does not require regulatory approvals and is expected to close within the calendar year 2026.
The statement said the exact number of cards will depend on the timing of the final transfer and customer consent, and also refrained from disclosing the final deal amount or consideration, saying that it will be decided at the time of transfer.
Federal Bank is a relatively late entrant in the credit cards space, having launched its offerings in 2021. Standard Chartered Bank had 6.38 lakh credit cards outstanding as of March 2026, as per RBI data.
The Federal Bank management had flagged some asset quality concerns on the co-branded credit cards sold in partnership with fintechs, but expressed satisfaction with its experience with the non-co-branded portfolio.
The deal will lead to a “major strategic gain” for Federal Bank, as approximately 75 per cent of the acquired card base is concentrated in India’s top eight cities, it said, adding that the private sector lender’s presence will more than double in these locations.
“The portfolio we are acquiring is of good quality, highly seasoned active credit card users, and is concentrated in the markets that align with our strategy. This further accelerates the growth of our already fast-growing cards business,” Federal Bank’s managing director and chief executive KVS Manian said.
StanC’s head of wealth and retail banking for India and South Asia, Aditya Mandloi, said the foreign lender is on a strategic shift towards building deeper, multi-product relationships with clients.
Mandloi added that credit cards will continue to be a core part of its offering for the affluent, and also added that it launched a new product recently.
“India remains a key market for Standard Chartered, where we continue to invest and strengthen our presence while serving our clients seamlessly,” Mandloi added.
The Federal Bank scrip was trading at 0.81 per cent up at Rs 287 apiece on the BSE at 1512 hrs against a 0.86 per cent correction on the benchmark.
