(Reuters) -Consumer lender Ally Financial has agreed to sell its credit card business to credit and payments firm CardWorks, the companies said on Wednesday. Shares of Ally jumped 8.6% in premarket trading.

This move aligns with Ally's mission to focus on its core services, including approximately 10 million customers in banking, brokerage, and auto financing. CardWorks, with its 38-year history in credit and payments,

Ally Financial Inc. reached a deal to offload its credit-card unit to CardWorks Inc., bowing out of a business it entered just over three years ago.

The auto lender is selling its credit card business and halting new mortgage loans, abandoning its once-broader ambitions. Ally CEO touted the move as "the power of focus."

Ally Financial (ALLY) stock jumped 8.6%in Wednesday premarket trading after the lender posted stronger-than-expected Q4 results and announced an agreement to sell its card business.

CardWorks agreed to buy the business, including a $2.3 billion credit-card loan portfolio with 1.3 million active cardholders as of the end of last year, Ally said. Additional terms of the deal weren’t disclosed in a Wednesday statement, but Ally paid around $750 million for the business in 2021. Bloomberg reported on the pending sale in November.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) and CardWorks, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for CardWorks, and its wholly-owned bank subsidiary, Merrick Bank, to acquire Ally's credit card business,

Plans for the sale were hinted at earlier this year, a month after the CEO said the business wasn’t within Ally’s core focus.

Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) has entered into an agreement to sell its credit card division to CardWorks Inc., along with its subsidiary, Merrick Bank.