Citigroup to sell UK and Ireland Diners Club card businesses to Affiniture Cards

Citigroup, the third-largest bank in the US, yesterday agreed to sell its Diners Club card issuing businesses in the UK and Ireland to private investor group Affiniture Cards Ltd, for an undisclosed sum.

The sale is part of the New York-based bank's 2009 announced strategy of shedding assets held in Citi Holdings in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 global recession.

Under the terms of the transaction, Affiniture Cards Ltd will acquire payment card accounts in these countries ensuring continuity and seamless service to cardholders during migration.

In a short press release, Citigroup said that the Affiniture management team has extensive experience in the cards and payments industry.

''The transaction marks continued progress in Citi's strategy to reduce the assets and businesses within Citi Holdings, its portfolio of non-core operating businesses and assets, in an economically rational manner while working to generate long-term profitability and growth from Citicorp, its core franchise,'' Citigroup said in a statement.

In 2009 Citigroup, one of the hardest-hit banks during the financial crisis, received $45 billion in bailout money - one of the larger rescue packages under the US government's $700-billion bailout fund, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

The bank created Citi Holdings as part of its restructuring plan, where several business entities were put in special asset pool in order to raise money by selling these assets to pay off government loan.