It's a chess move by one of the savviest long-term thinkers in American finance, Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank. Fairbank, who became a billionaire by building Capital One into a credit card giant since its 1994 IPO, is betting that buying rival card company Discover will better position the company for global payments' murky future. The deal, if approved, enables Capital One to leapfrog JPMorgan as the biggest credit card company by loans, and solidifies its position as the third largest by purchase volume. By 2027, the bank expects to add at least $175 billion in payments and 25 million of its cardholders onto the Discover network. The Discover network alone would be worth up to $6 billion if sold to Alphabet, Apple or Fiserv , Sakhrani wrote Tuesday in a research note.

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Persons: Richard Fairbank, Marvin Joseph, It's, Fairbank, Sanjay Sakhrani, Sakhrani Organizations: Washington Post, Getty, Capital, Discover Financial, U.S, JPMorgan Chase, Independence, Discover, JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, One's, PayPal Locations: Wall, U.S