The sell-off among consumer debt companies spread to banks that are major issuers of credit cards.

Absa is a signatory of the South African Financial Sector Charter and one of the major issuers of the Mzansi Account.

She said MBNA was asked for a bid because it was a major issuer of affinity cards.

Given the opportunity to offer name-your-own-terms credit cards, many major issuers have balked, as have some large manufacturers.

Because of these issues, issuance trusts are now the dominant structure used by major issuers of credit card-backed securities.

But major issuers of credit cards and credit reporting services are introducing some new crime-fighting computer systems.

Reward programs offering merchandise and cash, along with features like no-interest rate teasers, no longer differentiate the banks, because virtually every major issuer offers them.

For various competitive reasons, the major corporate issuers did not give details of any scheduled pricings.

Mr. White noted a sharp increase in defaults and problems in the telecommunications industry, a major issuer of high-yield bonds.

EMV is the standard adopted by all major issuers of smart payment cards.