Ally Financial shares surged Wednesday after the financial firm topped earnings and revenue estimates as it cut costs, and announced it was selling its credit card business.

(Reuters) -Consumer lender Ally Financial has agreed to sell its credit card business to credit and payments firm CardWorks, the companies said on Wednesday. Shares of Ally jumped 8.6% in premarket trading.

Ally Financial’s ALLY fourth-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of 78 cents per share handily surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 59 cents. Also, the bottom line reflected a jump of 95% from the year-ago quarter.

Auto lender Ally Financial said Wednesday that it's officially ending its foray into credit cards under a broader restructuring, even as credit issues in its flagship auto loan business showed signs of waning. Your complimentary guest account includes access to a limited number of articles.

CardWorks agreed to buy the business, including a $2.3 billion credit-card loan portfolio with 1.3 million active cardholders as of the end of last year, Ally said. Additional terms of the deal weren’t disclosed in a Wednesday statement, but Ally paid around $750 million for the business in 2021. Bloomberg reported on the pending sale in November.

Ally Financial Inc. reached a deal to offload its credit-card unit to CardWorks Inc., bowing out of a business it entered just over three years ago.

This move aligns with Ally's mission to focus on its core services, including approximately 10 million customers in banking, brokerage, and auto financing. CardWorks, with its 38-year history in credit and payments,

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:?ALLY) and CardWorks, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for CardWorks, and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Merrick Bank, to acquire Ally's credit card business,