British bank Abbey National has sold its credit card business to the European arm of US card giant MBNA for £289 million sterling (#458 million) under a revenue sharing partnership.

MBNA will develop and manage a new range of cards using the Abbey National brand and Abbey will receive commission from card sales and a share in the profits under a five-year agreement.

Abbey, which has about 1.3 per cent of the UK credit card market, said it hoped to sell more cards by linking up with MBNA. The price included a premium on the sale of £45 million pounds, but Abbey is expected to receive three for four times that in income over five years. Abbey said the deal was expected to boost earnings from 2001 onwards.

The mortgage bank, facing an unwanted takeover bid from rival Lloyds TSB, said it hoped the partnership would substantially increase the number of branded credit cards held by its customers. The bank currently has about half a million credit card holders.

The UK's big four banks - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland - dominate the UK credit card market, with Barclaycard the current market leader.

MBNA is the largest independent credit-card lender in the world and also provides retail deposit, consumer loan and insurance products.