Capital One, Discover Financial in merger talks – report

Capital One Financial (NYSE:) is weighing an acquisition of credit card company Discover Financial Services (NYSE:), Bloomberg News reported Monday afternoon citing people familiar with the matter. A deal, if announced, could come as soon as next week and would mark one of this year’s largest deals and Capital One’s largest deal in its history.

The news comes with the U.S. stock market closed Monday for President’s Day.

In January, Discover announced that net income in its fourth quarter dropped 62% and shares are down 2% year-to-date. The company’s provision for credit losses rose by $1.0 billion compared to the previous year, reaching $1.9 billion. This increase was fueled by a $305 million higher reserve build in the current quarter and a $717 million uptick in net charge-offs.

Merger talks between the two companies are ongoing and there is no guarantee that a deal will be consummated, the report added.

Neither Capital One nor Discover immediately responded to Bloomberg’s requests for comment.