Will Brexit Make BoA Nix Its MBNA Sale?

Now that the Brexit has left the UK stricken with Bregret, international corporations are starting to come to terms with the thousands of wrenches Britain’s EU withdrawal has thrown into the gears of their operations. For some, like Bank of America, those wrenches are enough to call out a multi-billion dollar sale.

Three unnamed sources have informed The Financial Times that Bank of America is calling off the sale of its MBNA credit card business that holds around 11 percent of the UK’s overall credit card market. Valued at approximately £7 billion, MBNA is said to have attracted interest from Lloyds, Barclays and Santander UK – however, after the Brexit vote, three anonymous sources close to the deal informed FT that average bids for MBNA have fallen by as much as a third since Leave conquered Remain.

“[MBNA] has just had 20 to 30 percent wiped off its value overnight,” one source told FT.

This isn’t the first time Bank of America has toyed with pulling a sale of MBNA off the table. In 2011, after selling off continental subsidiaries of its main UK MBNA operations, the company reneged on plans to sell the UK business off as well – that time also because of insufficiently high bids.

Bank of America hasn’t issued any official word yet, and neither have any of MBNA’s potential bidders. But with the fallout from Brexit continuing to roil the global markets, both big-ticket sales and official statements seem to be in sudden short supply.