Synchrony Financial, the credit card lender recently spun off from General Electric, is considering an expansion into small-business lending.
The Stamford, Conn., company already offers small-business credit cards through merchants such as Lowe's and Sam's Club. But now Synchrony is exploring the idea of providing credit directly to small businesses, without the involvement of retailers, according to Chief Financial Officer Brian Doubles.
"There's an opportunity, and we're evaluating this," he said Tuesday at an industry conference in London hosted by Barclays. "So we've hired some experts in that field. We're evaluating the space."
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Synchrony Financial reported solid earnings growth in the first quarter thanks to increased use of its credit cards, but the firm's credit performance was slightly weaker.
April 22 -
The card issuer, buoyed by employment gains and its partnership with the megaretailer Amazon, is bullish on its growth prospects for 2016.
January 22 -
The rest of the credit card industry continues to be dogged by slow loan growth, but retail-branded cards are bouncing back, thanks largely to a big push by merchants.
September 14
Doubles also stated that small-business deposit accounts are part of Synchrony's strategy for building its online bank.
Synchrony Bank had $62.9 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, up from $49.7 billion a year earlier. It is courting depositors in an effort to fund more of its lending business with low-cost deposits.
Synchrony, which was formerly part of GE Capital, issues store-branded credit cards for major retailers such as Amazon, Walmart and The Gap.
