JPMorgan Chase is negotiating with Apple to take over the tech giant’s credit card program from Goldman Sachs.
Goldman has sought to divest the Apple Card portfolio for over a year as part of its strategy to withdraw from consumer markets, a move that has resulted in significant losses for the investment bank.
Sources indicate that discussions are in the early stages and could fall through as JPMorgan negotiates the price and potential changes to the card features. The bank aims to pay less than the face value for the approximately $17 billion in loans associated with the Apple Card, primarily due to higher-than-average delinquencies and defaults in the portfolio.
Concerns regarding credit quality have decreased the portfolio’s appeal to other issuers, especially amid worries of a potential economic slowdown in the U.S. Additionally, JPMorgan is reportedly looking to eliminate Apple Card’s calendar-based billing feature, which aligns statement dates for all customers at the beginning of each month. While this feature is beneficial for users, it has created a substantial workload for customer service representatives who manage an influx of calls at the same time each month.
Both Apple and JPMorgan have declined to comment on the negotiations, which were initially reported by The Wall Street Journal.