Jan 6, 2006: According to results released today by the Nilson Report, JB Morgan Chase passed rival Bank of America Corp. making Chase the biggest U.S. issuer of credit cards.

JPMorgan Chase’s credit-card portfolio increased 6 percent in the second half of last year, with Chase Card Services managing MasterCard and Visa loans valued at $147.8 billion as of Dec. 31, 2006 — up 6% over the second quarter of the year, according to Nilson. Card accounts rose 8.4 percent for the full year to 79.5 million, the fastest growth among the five largest issuers.

At Bank of America, which became No. 1 last year after buying Wilmington-based MBNA Corp., card loans rose 3.2 percent to $146.9 billion from midyear. Accounts fell 16 percent in 2006 to 74 million as the bank eliminated duplicate cards after the merger. New York- based Citigroup Inc. was third with $109.5 billion of card loans and 71.5 million accounts.

“Chase is doing a good job in a highly competitive environment,” told David Robertson, publisher of the Oxnard, California-based Nilson Report, to the Wilmington Delware News Journal today.  Bank of America also lost some accounts last year that MBNA had managed for Wachovia Corp. and other rival banks because they didn’t want Bank of America to get access to their customers, Robertson said.

Bank of America is based in Charlotte, N.C., and JPMorgan Chase is based in New York. Credit-card operations of both banks are based in Wilmington.