Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial
Public company
Traded as NYSE: SYF
S&P 500 Component
Industry Financial services
Founded September 12, 2003 (2003-09-12)[1]
Headquarters Stamford, Connecticut, United States[2]
Key people
 Margaret M. Keane[3]
President and CEO
Products Credit cards
Payment systems
Revenue Increase US$13.530 billion (2016)[2]
Increase US$2.251 billion (2016)[2]
Total assets Increase US$90.207 billion (2016)[2]
Total equity Increase US$14.196 billion (2016)[2]
Number of employees
 15,000 (2016)[2][4][5]
Website synchronyfinancial.com

Synchrony Financial is a consumer financial services company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States.[2] The company offers consumer financing products, including credit, promotional financing and loyalty programs, installment lending, and FDIC insured savings products through Synchrony Bank, its wholly owned subsidiary.[2]

History

Synchrony traces its roots to 1932.[4]

Prior to its 2014 initial public offering, which raised $2.88 billion, Synchrony operated as a subsidiary of GE Capital.[4][6][7]

In March 2017, Synchrony acquired GP Shopper.[8][9]

Current operations

Synchrony is the largest provider of private label credit cards in the U.S. In 2014, the company comprised 42 percent of the private label credit card market.[10] The company provides private label credit cards for such brands as Amazon, Cathay Pacific, CheapOAir, OneTravel,[11] Walmart,[12] Lowe’s,[12] Guitar Center,[13] Gap,[14] BP,[15] Ashley HomeStores,[16] Discount Tire,[16] J.C. Penney, and P. C. Richard & Son.[16] The CareCredit credit card, also offered through Synchrony Bank, is for healthcare procedures or services such as dental, veterinary, cosmetic, vision, and audiology.[17]

In June 2014, Synchrony agreed to pay $225 million after entering into a consent decree with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB alleged "deceptive and discriminatory practices" regarding Synchrony's consumer credit cards.[18]

With regards to the practices that the CFPB called "deceptive," it was alleged that, while operating as GE Capital, Synchrony telemarketers had sold numerous credit card add-on services, such as debt cancellation agreements, to consumers without notifying the buyer in an upfront manner of the terms of the agreements. According to the CFPB, in many cases, consumers were unaware that they would be charged for these services.

With regards to the practices the CFPB called "discriminatory," it was found that Synchrony had discriminated against Latino Americans by excluding from two different promotional statement credit deals customers who had elected to receive communications in Spanish and customers with mailing addresses in Puerto Rico. The promotional deals were offered from 2009 until 2012 to customers with delinquent accounts and allowed them to settle their balance with Synchrony Financial by paying some amount which was less than the outstanding balance, under certain conditions. It is not known why Synchrony chose not to offer this promotion to its Hispanic customers, but the CFPB found that this practice constituted "discriminat[ion]... on the basis of... race and national origin."

References

  1. ↑ "Synchrony Financial on the Forbes Global 2000 List". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 SYNCHRONY FINANCIAL 2016 Form 10-K Annual Report
  3. ↑ Schawbel, Dan (May 10, 2015). "Margaret Keane: How Synchrony Financial Built A Winning Culture". Forbes. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Synchrony Financial Fact Sheet
  5. ↑ "Synchrony Financial Careers - We're Hiring". Synchrony Financial.
  6. ↑ De La Merced, Michael (March 13, 2014). "G.E. Files to Spin Off Retail Finance Unit". New York Times.
  7. ↑ "GE credit card unit Synchrony Financial prices IPO at $23 per share". Reuters. July 30, 2014.
  8. ↑ "BRIEF-Synchrony Financial to buy GPShopper". Reuters. March 20, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Synchrony Financial to Broaden Cutting Edge Mobile Commerce Solutions for Retailers Through its Acquisition of GPShoppe" (Press release). Business Wire. March 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ Picker, Leslie (July 31, 2014). "GE Overhang Looms for Synchrony Before Planned IPO". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ Kapadia, Milanee (November 24, 2014). "Credit card issuer says the "consumer is back"". Yahoo Finance. Yahoo. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  12. 1 2 Johnson, Andrew (March 13, 2014). "GE Plans Credit-Card IPO as Plastic Gets Popular; New Company to Be Called Synchrony Financial". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company Inc. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  13. ↑ Passeri, James (April 17, 2015). "GE Spinoff Synchrony Financial Is Still Trying to Stand on Its Own". The Street. TheStreet, Inc. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  14. ↑ Nash, Kim (May 14, 2015). "GE Spin-Off Synchrony Financial Builds Tech to Support Growth Plans". The Wall Street Journal. NewsCorp. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
  15. ↑ Tierney, Jim (March 3, 2015). "BP Upgrades Loyalty Program for Greater Value Proposition". Loyalty 360. Loyalty 360. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 Walston, Chuck (March 31, 2014). "GE: How The Upcoming Spin-Off Will Prove Profitable". Seeking Alpha. Seeking Alpha. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Samsung Finally 'Unpacks' Samsung Pay". PYMNTS. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "CFPB Orders GE Capital to Pay $225 Million in Consumer Relief for Deceptive and Discriminatory Credit Card Practices" (Press release). Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. June 19, 2014.
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