American Airlines in talks to pick Citigroup over rival bank Barclays for crucial credit card deal

American Airlines is in talks to make Citigroup its exclusive credit card partner, dropping rival issuer Barclays from a partnership that dates back to the airline's 2013 takeover of US Airways, said people with knowledge of the negotiations.

American has been working with banks and card networks on a new long-term deal for months with the aim of consolidating its business with a single issuer to boost the revenue haul from its loyalty program, according to the people.

Talks are ongoing, and the timing of an agreement, which would be subject to regulatory approval, is unknown, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about a confidential process.

Banks' co-brand deals with airlines, retailers and hotel chains are some of the most hotly contested negotiations in the industry. While they give the issuing bank a captive audience of millions of loyal customers who spend billions of dollars a year, the details of the arrangements can make a huge difference in how profitable it is for either party.

Big brands have been driving harder bargains in recent years, demanding a bigger slice of revenue from interest and fees, for example. Meanwhile, banks have been pushing back or exiting the space entirely, saying that rising card losses, scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and higher capital costs make for tight margins.

Airlines rely on card programs to help them stay afloat, earning billions of dollars a year from banks in exchange for miles that customers earn when they use their cards. Those partnerships were crucial during the pandemic, when travel demand dried up but consumers kept spending and earning miles on their cards. Carriers have said growth in card spending has far exceeded that of passenger revenue in recent years.

While it says it has the largest loyalty program, American was out-earned by Delta there, which made nearly $7 billion in payments from its American Express card partnership last year, compared to $5.2 billion for American.

"We continue to work with all of our partners, including our co-branded credit card partners, to explore opportunities to improve the products and services we provide our mutual customers and bring even more value to the AAdvantage program," American said in a statement.

It's still possible that objections from U.S. regulators, including the Department of Transportation, could further delay or even scuttle a contract between American Airlines and Citigroup, leaving the current arrangement that includes Barclays intact, according to one of the people familiar with the process.

If the deal between American and Citigroup is consummated, it would end an unusual partnership in the credit card world.

Most brands settle with a single issuer, but when American merged with US Airways in 2013, it kept longtime issuer Citigroup on board and added US Airways' card partner Barclays.

American renewed both relationships in 2016, giving each bank specific channels to market their cards. Citi was allowed to pitch its cards online, via direct mail and airport lounges, while Barclays was relegated to on-flight solicitations.

When the relationship came up for renewal again in the past year, Citigroup had good footing to prevail over the smaller Barclays.

Run by CEO Jane Fraser since 2021, Citigroup has the more profitable side of the AA business; their customers tend to spend far more and have lower default rates than Barclays customers, one of the people said.

Any renewal contract is likely to be seven to 10 years in length, which would give Citigroup time to recoup the costs of porting over Barclays customers and other investments it would need to make, this person said. Banks tend to earn most of the money from these arrangements in the back half of the deals.

With this and other large partnerships, Fraser has been pushing Citigroup to aim bigger in a bid to improve the profitability of the card business, said the people familiar.  

"We are always actively working with our partners, including American Airlines, to look for ways to jointly enhance customer products and drive shared value and growth," a Citigroup spokesperson told CNBC.

Meanwhile, Barclays executives told investors earlier this year that they aimed to diversity their co-branded card portfolio away from airlines, for instance, through added partnerships with retailers and tech companies.

Barclays declined to comment for this article.