(Adds details, background)
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO said it
would buy JPMorgan (N:JPM) & Chase Co's JPM.N Canadian credit card
portfolio associated with Sears Canada Inc SCC.TO , a month
ahead of the expiry of the servicing agreement by the U.S. bank.
JPMorgan said in November last year that it served the
retailer with a notice of non-renewal to prevent the agreement,
which expires Nov. 15, 2015, from auto-renewing.
Scotiabank said on Thursday that it will buy JPMorgan's
MasterCard and private label credit card portfolio, which has
about C$1.7 billion ($1.32 billion) in receivables and 2 million
active customer accounts.
The deal, which will add to Scotiabank's earnings in the
first year, will impact the company's common equity tier-one
capital ratio by less than 10 basis points, the company said.
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JPMorgan had purchased the credit card receivables business
in 2005, enabling Sears Canada to pay out a special dividend to
investors that year.
The deal is the latest for Scotiabank, which signed
agreements last year to buy a majority stake in retailer
Cencosud SA's CEN.SN retail credit card business in Chile and
Citigroup (N:C) Inc's C.N retail and commercial banking operations
in Peru.
($1 = 1.2862 Canadian dollars)