So as it turns out, General Electric (GE 8.28%) doesn't want to exit the business of financing fuel purchases after all.
Earlier this year, GE made headlines with its decision to get out of the Australian gas card business, when it announced it was selling its Fleet Card gas charge-card business to FleetCor. This set off a mini-acquisition spree at FleetCor itself, which proceeded to acquire the CardLink fuel card business in neighboring New Zealand a month later.
As for GE, though, it appears to be only shifting focus. On Tuesday, GE Capital Retail Bank announced a deal to provide private label credit card support to Phillips 66 (PSX 1.14%). Beginning Aug. 1, GE will begin to manage and service credit cards for Phillips customers -- both individual consumers using Phillips 66 , Conoco, and 76 personal gas cards, and commercial customers using revolving charge cards also branded Phillips 66, Conoco, and 76.
In a statement on the program, GE Capital Retail Finance CEO Margaret Keane said the company is "excited to build this relationship with Phillips 66 and look[s] forward to working with the 8,000+ branded locations in their network to provide valuable financing solutions for their customers."
As part of the agreement, GE Capital Retail Bank will acquire the existing card program assets from Citibank. Financial terms were not disclosed.
