Synchrony Would Be ‘Natural Partner’ in PayPal’s Loan Sale, CFO Says

Jenny Surane, Bloomberg News

The Synchrony Financial offices in Costa Mesa, California, US, on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022. New Venmo and PayPal credit cards could add 15-20% to Synchrony's pretax profit by 2024, despite slowing user growth, given the sheer magnitude of PayPal's user base and the relative ease of acquiring new accounts. Photographer: Bing Guan/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Synchrony Financial Chief Financial Officer Brian Wenzel said the store-card company would be a “natural partner” for PayPal Holdings Inc. as the payments giant looks to offload $6.2 billion in loan receivables.

PayPal said last month it was weighing a sale of the portfolio as a way to free up cash and use that capital to pursue more profitable businesses. The move would follow the 2018 sale of about $6.8 billion in loans and receivables to Synchrony Financial at face value.

“We stand ready to partner with them,” Wenzel said Monday at an industry conference. “We would be a natural partner for them if they try to do some of that.”

A deal would be the latest tie-up between the two payments companies, which last year debuted a PayPal savings account that now offers an annual percentage yield of 2.05%. Synchrony is also the issuer behind PayPal’s popular Venmo credit card, and in 2017 it was named the exclusive issuer of PayPal’s online consumer-financing program for 10 years.

Synchrony is the country’s largest store-card provider, counting Amazon.com Inc., JC Penney Corp. and Lowe’s Cos. as some of its biggest partners. The company continues to see cardholders keeping up with their bills even amid historic levels of inflation in recent months, Wenzel said.

“We do not see the consumer stressing at this point in time,” Wenzel said. “If we start to see some of those early indicators, we can take action. But we feel good.”