Top 15 U.S. Credit Card Issuers Based on Purchase Volume (in billions):
| Rank | Issuer | Purchase Volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | $519.47 |
| 2 | Chase | $370.83 |
| 3 | Bank of America | $248.59 |
| 4 | Citibank | $194.66 |
| 5 | Capital One | $115.63 |
| 6 | Discover | $100.14 |
| 7 | U.S. Bancorp | $82.47 |
| 8 | Wells Fargo | $56.22 |
| 9 | HSBC (acquired by Capital One 05/12) |
$32.03 |
| 10 | USAA | $30.79 |
| 11 | Barclays | $30.45 |
| 12 | GE Capital | $23.69 |
| 13 | PNC | $16.46 |
| 14 | Cabela’s WFB | $13.87 |
| 15 | First National | $9.05 |
(Source: Nilson Report, February 2011)
Top 15 issuers of general purpose credit cards for first 6 months of 2009 based on outstanding balances:
| Rank | Issuer | Outstanding Balances (In Billions) | Market Share |
Cumulative Market Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chase | $165.87 | 19% | 19% |
| 2 | Bank of America | $145.10 | 16% | 35% |
| 3 | Citi | $102.54 | 12% | 47% |
| 4 | American Express | $78.16 | 9% | 55% |
| 5 | Capital One | $55.46 | 6% | 62% |
| 6 | Discover | $48.90 | 6% | 68% |
| 7 | Wells Fargo | $30.89 | 3% | 71% |
| 8 | HSBC (acquired by Capital One 05/12) |
$24.80 | 3% | 73% |
| 9 | US Bank | $20.17 | 2% | 76% |
| 10 | USAA | $12.96 | 1% | 77% |
| 11 | Barclays | $10.67 | 1% | 78% |
| 12 | Target | $7.78 | 1% | 79% |
| 13 | GE Money | $7.17 | 1% | 80% |
| 14 | PNC Bank | $5.08 | 1% | 81% |
| 15 | First National | $4.32 | 0.5% | 81.5% |
|
TOTAL CREDIT CARD DEBT: |
$887.10 |
(Source: Nilson Report, August 2009, Federal Reserve)
Top 15 issuers of general purchase credit cards in the U.S. based on purchase volume — 2004 vs. 2009:
| Rank | 2004 | 2009 | 2011 | 2012 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Express | American Express | American Express | American Express |
| 2 | Chase | Chase | Chase | Chase |
| 3 | Citi | Bank of America | Bank of America | Bank of America |
| 4 | MBNA | Citibank | Citibank | Citibank |
| 5 | Bank of America | Capital One | Capital One | Capital One |
| 6 | Capital One | Discover | Discover | Discover |
| 7 | Discover | U.S. Bancorp | U.S. Bancorp | U.S. Bancorp |
| 8 | US Bank | Wells Fargo | Wells Fargo | Wells Fargo |
| 9 | HSBC | HSBC | HSBC | HSBC (acquired by Capital One 05/12) |
| 10 | Wells Fargo | Barclays | Barclays | USAA |
| 11 | USAA | USAA | USAA | Barclays |
| 12 | WaMu | GE Money | GE Money | GE Capital |
| 13 | GE Money | PNC Bank | PNC Bank | PNC Bank |
| 14 | Target | Cabela’s WFB | Cabela’s WFB | Cabela’s WFB |
| 15 | Advanta | Target | Target | First National |
(Source: Nilson Report, February 2010)
Capital One was the most profitable U.S. credit card issuer in 2009 with a net income of $918.4 million, even though this was down 8.3% versus the previous year.
The three largest general purpose credit card issuers, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi, were the only issuers in the top 11 who were not profitable — Bank of America’s $5.56 billion loss exceeded the combined net income its U.S. card business had generated the previous two years.
As a group, the top 11 U.S. credit card issuers had a net loss of $5.40 billion in 2009 compared to a net income of $7.70 billion in 2008.
(Source: Nilson Report, March 2010)
