Wachovia To Partner With GE To Issue Corp. Cards

Banking giant Wachovia Corp. will provide corporate card products by the fourth quarter of this year as part of an agreement with GE Money's Corporate Payment Services, the companies announced today.

Under the agreement, Wachovia will provide commercial and purchasing cards that include the ability to be used for travel and entertainment to wholesale and treasury services customers, which generally entails small and midsize business customers. The size of the portfolio, for which MasterCard will be the preferred brand, was not disclosed.

Wachovia will sell, underwrite and manage the asset portfolio, while GE provides back-office functions and tools for information reporting and analysis.

Following the termination of a joint marketing agreement with MBNA near the end of last year, Wachovia began its move back into the credit card business. It already introduced new retail credit card products in July.