CIBC said Wednesday it is selling its Delaware-based credit card issuer to Barclays Bank PLC for US$293 million. The move marks another step in the bank’s efforts to cut back its U.S. assets.

CIBC said the sale of Juniper Financial Corp., worth $383 million in Canadian funds at Tuesday’s exchange rates, will result in a pre-tax gain of about $98 million ($46 million after tax).

CIBC acquired 51% of Juniper Financial in 2001, a year after Juniper was founded as an online bank and card issuer, and later increased its ownership to 98%, with the remaining 2% held by Juniper’s senior management. Juniper, a 400-employee operation headquartered in Wilmington, Del., has 700,000 accounts with US$1.4 billion in receivables.

The sale of Juniper follows the sale of CIBC’s Oppenheimer wealth management business in the U.S. and the closure of its Amicus U.S. electronic banking operation.