This CardWeb article shows how profitable the credit card business is. Here is the credit card business profit of major issuers for the first three quarters in 2003:
CitiBank $2.1B
American Express $1.8B
MBNA $1.6B
CapitalOne $872M
BankOne $812M
The article went on to say:
"Through the third quarter, five of the nation's leading issuers, collectively representing more than 54% of the U.S. card market, posted nearly $7.3 billion in card profits for the first nine months of this year. This means the U.S. general purpose credit card industry may produce as much as $20 billion in profits this year. ... Based on the credit card activity in the third quarter it appears the economy is well on its ways to a strong recovery."