E*Trade Bank is to acquire more than 33,000 customer accounts with deposits currently valued at more than $1.5 billion from Chase Manhattan Bank USA.
The online bank says the acquisition will strengthen its consolidation drive across the electronic financial services arena, and will be accretive immediately to both revenue and earnings.
Mitchell Caplan, chief financial products officer and managing director, North America, of E*Trade Group, says: "The acquisition of Chase USA's high value accounts is another strong maneuver, allowing us to expand our customer base and capture a greater share of assets per household, while keeping acquisition costs low and improving profitability."
Michael Barrett, president, Chase USA, which provides credit cards and loan services to consumers, says it is selling the accounts "due to other funding sources it has developed in recent years".
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.