The fourth largest bank in South Florida said it plans to issue consumer credit cards in the first quarter 2007.

SunTrust Banks had had a deal since 1999 with credit card issuer MBNA Corp. The deal allowed MBNA to buy SunTrust’s consumer credit card portfolio and market personal card products and services to the bank’s customers.

That arrangement expires next month, SunTrust said. Also, since SunTrust and MBNA first allied, rival Bank of America has bought MBNA. That $35 billion deal closed Jan. 1.

“This move perfectly addresses SunTrust’s strategic, financial and product considerations in an evolving credit card environment,” noted C. Gene Kirby, SunTrust corporate executive vice president in charge of its retail banking line of business.

With 5.82 percent market share in South Florida, SunTrust has 89 offices and $8.47 million in deposits in the region.

The Atlanta-based bank said a company in its same hometown, InfiCorp Holdings, will market, originate and service its new cards.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 at 1:35 pm and is filed under In the News, Mastercard, Visa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.