Barclaycard will acquire the entire credit card portfolio of its rival Egg, including gross receivables worth around £2.3bn, after Barclays Bank sanctioned the deal for an undisclosed price.

Barclaycard, Barclays Bank’s credit card subsidiary, will add approximately 1.15 million UK credit card accounts to its current portfolio as a result of the deal. The transaction is pending clearance from the Competition Commission, which is expected during the first half of this year.

According to Chris Lucas, group finance director of Barclays, the accounts were purchased from Egg’s parent firm, Citi, at a significant discount to the receivables. Lucas added: "Based on current projections, we expect the transaction to exceed the financial return targets set out at our recent results announcement."

In a statement Citi added that the deal was in line with its strategy to reduce its non-core assets – and was expected to generate a post-tax gain to the bank despite the discounted sale.