JPMorgan said in talks to assume Apple’s credit-card program from Goldman Sachs

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) is in discussions with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) about assuming the iPhone maker’s credit-card program from Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), according to a Tuesday media report.

The news comes after Goldman’s decision to withdraw from its foray into consumer finance. Recall late last year when Apple (AAPL) had tapped out on its consumer-finance partnership with Goldman (GS), the current issuer of the card. That includes exiting their credit-card and savings-account contract.

Apple (AAPL) has since held talks with a number of potential suitors for the credit-card program, including card issuers Synchrony Financial (SYF) and Capital One Financial (COF), the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The JPMorgan (JPM) team negotiating the deal aims to acquire the Apple (AAPL) card program for less than the full $17B in outstanding balances, the people said, adding that a deal could still be months away.

The U.S.’s largest bank also seeks to eliminate key aspects of the card program, such as Apple’s (AAPL) stipulation that all cardholders receive their statements at the start of each month, the people added, the Journal reported.

In the meantime, Goldman (GS) is racking up losses from its costly consumer-sector exit. Last week, the investment bank disclosed it’s preparing to take a $400M pretax hit mainly on the coming sale of its General Motors’ (GM) credit-card business. Bloomberg reported on Sept. 10 that Goldman (GS) is set to offload a $2B portfolio of loans tied to GM customers to Barclays (BCS).

Further losses could be incurred by Goldman (GS) if and when it sells the Apple (AAPL) card program to a new issuer.