British Internet bank Egg said on Saturday it was terminating about 160,000 customers' credit card agreements, saying their credit profiles had deteriorated.
A British lawmaker called the move unfair, and said Egg's decision should be investigated.
Egg Banking PLC was bought by Citigroup Inc last year, and the company said the move was the result of a "one-off, extensive risk review of our book" after the acquisition.
The figure represents about 7 percent of Egg's credit card customers.
"Egg has given a number of its credit-card customers 35 days' notice that it is ending their card agreements," the bank said in a statement.
Egg said its customers would still be able to repay their balances, either monthly or in full.
Egg, one of the most successful Internet-only banks in the world, was bought from British insurer Prudential PLC by Citigroup for more than US$1 billion in May.
It now forms part of Citigroup's UK consumer unit.
Citigroup and other top banks began reporting huge losses stemming from a mortgage and credit crisis last fall, and funds from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Korea and China have sunk billions of dollars into US and European banks facing such problems.
Nigel Griffiths, a governing Labour Party legislator, on Saturday criticized Egg's decision as unfair to some of its customers and called on Britain's Financial Services Authority to investigate the move.
The authority is an independent body that regulates the financial services industry in Britain.
In an interview with BBC TV, Griffiths said that there had been "a flood of complaints" from Egg card holders who had paid for independent credit rating checks that found they were good customers.
"Of course, no one should be forced to give credit to anyone. In fact, I've accused this industry of too easily giving credit in the past and not making proper checks," the Scottish legislator said.
"But in this case they seem to be almost indiscriminately taking people off their books and there is a strong suspicion that these are people who -- because they don't actually get into debt and start paying high monthly interest charges -- may not be the most highly profitable customers and they're being cleared off the books," Griffiths said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
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STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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