Federal Bank to Acquire Standard Chartered Bank's Select Credit Card Portfolio

Federal Bank to Acquire Standard Chartered's Credit Card Portfolio

Federal Bank announced on April 30 that it will acquire a select credit card portfolio from Standard Chartered Bank. The deal is subject to the execution of a formal agreement, and the financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.

The Board of Directors of Federal Bank Ltd approved the acquisition at its meeting on April 30, 2026. The bank will provide an update on the execution of the deed of assignment in due course. At 11:50 am on April 30, Federal Bank shares were trading 1.3% lower at Rs 281 apiece.

This acquisition is part of Standard Chartered's efforts to offload non-core components of its portfolio in India to improve its profitability. The bank has been reviewing offers from Kotak Mahindra Bank and Federal Bank to acquire its up to 6 lakh customers in India who only have credit card accounts.

Read also: Treasury Yields Experience Largest Increase in Two Weeks Following Release of Labor Market Data

Comparison of Credit Card Portfolios

After the deal, StanChart plans to retain around 70,000 Indian credit card customers, affluent clients who have other banking relationships with the lender. The bank has been scaling back its retail operations in India due to stiff competition from local lenders.

In a separate development, Federal Bank reported a 22% jump in its consolidated net profit in the March quarter of FY26 at Rs 1,341 crore, as against Rs 1,091 crore in the year-ago period. The bank's core net interest income zoomed to Rs 3,173 crore from the Rs 2,337 crore recorded in the year-ago period.

Read also: US-Iran Tensions Spark Uptick in Oil Prices Amid Global Market Decline

The bank's chief executive and managing director, K V S Manian, said that even without the one-time gain, this is the best quarter for the bank in terms of profits. The bank is targeting to launch 100 more branches to the present network of 757 outlets, and will focus on the metro and urban areas.

The bank's asset quality perspective has improved, with gross slippages coming at Rs 474 crore as against Rs 435 crore in the preceding quarter and Rs 483 crore in the year-ago period. The gross non-performing assets ratio improved to a decadal best of 1.60%.

In response to allegations of misconduct against bank officials, Manian said that 42% of the bank's staff are women, and a thorough enquiry will be conducted on the same.