Samsung is reportedly in advanced talks with Barclays to develop a co-branded Visa credit card, per the Wall Street Journal. The card’s cash-back rewards would funnel back into cardholders’ Samsung accounts to encourage spending on Samsung products and services. To accelerate users’ adoption of the card, tech companies with payment ambitions should build a flywheel to lock in new consumer spending patterns. By centering rewards and device upgrades to the same credit card and wallet, consumers can find both the products, services, and financing they desire all in one place.

Capital One will issue T-Mobile’s first credit card, according to Bloomberg—but it won’t run on Capital One’s recently acquired Discover network. Whether T-Mobile snubbed Discover or Capital One wasn’t ready to integrate its credit card products with the newly acquired network, the optics of running a new card on Visa aren’t great. But Visa and Mastercard shouldn’t exactly call this a win. While Discover's total volume is still an order of magnitude lower than that of Mastercard or Visa, incremental gains will lead to real lost volume opportunities for the duopoly.

Bread Financial reported $188 million in net income in its Q3 2025 earnings—roughly flat on the year—while revenues fell 1% to $971 million. Co-brand issuers need to diversify their portfolios to withstand economic downturns and sector-specific slowdowns. However, issuers need to consider what’s going on in potential new sectors. Home goods likely is a low-growth choice based on current outlooks into the housing market, while more resilient industries may be a better play during economic uncertainty.

Synchrony reported $1.1 billion in net earnings during Q3 2025—a notable increase from Q4 2024’s $789 million, while net revenues were flat at $2.8 billion YoY, per a press release. Buy now, pay later platforms like Klarna, Affirm, and PayPal have an opportunity to pick off consumers from co-brand and private label issuers as the holiday season approaches. While these cards often boast high interest rates, PayPal’s in-store eligible Pay Monthly offers 5% cashback, and Affirm’s 0% interest days likely connect with Gen Zers trying to avoid revolving credit. As long as these fintechs can offer more competitive interest rates, installment plans, or rewards, co-brand cards are caught on the back foot for securing this consumer segments’ loyalty.

The news: Southwest Airlines made sweeping changes to its Chase co-branded credit cards, per a press release. Our take: Southwest cardholders are essentially earning back classic Southwest perks stripped from regular travelers. The airline likely could use the gains from higher fees on its credit cards: the budget airline sector stands to struggle as lower income Americans tighten their purse strings for personal travel—and Southwest earned 13% of its revenue from its co-brand cards Q3 2024.

The news: Synchrony’s net revenues fell 2% YoY in Q2 2025, per its earnings release. Our take: Synchrony came off of a rocky Q1 2025 but locked down significant deals over the course of Q2 that will help drive growth through the rest of the year.

The issuer’s confidence in its cardholders and business could be upended by tariffs

The airline is betting on cardholders believing its new rewards offset the cards’ higher annual fees

Banyan’s tech could help encourage Bilt cardholders to use their cards for more than rent—if the price is right.

Other airlines like Alaska Airlines have also pushed into the premium space as the cards can bring in higher volume and revenues

The issuer faces rising charge-offs, slowing volume growth, and declining active accounts

Given the success of its long-standing Sam’s Club card, the issuer could be in the running to restart Walmart’s program

A rewards integration coming later this year could make Synchrony a more attractive co-brand partner

Partnership negotiations will have to deal with the program’s list of hurdles

This will solidify Walmart’s role as a major payments player and can be a large revenue generator for the retailer

The card’s unique waitlist promotion can help the card gain a sizable user base

This deal is a setback for Barclay’s push into the US market and a major win for Citi.

The reputational damage could make issuers wary of taking on the card as they look for a new partner

It's the ecommerce giant’s first credit card but likely not the last as it competes with Amazon and other ecommerce sites

Co-brands can be a valuable loyalty and revenue driver for merchants, and there’s plenty of room for them to grow