Bank of America Corp. plans to sell its credit card business in Canada to TD Bank Group and will exit its card business in the UK and Ireland.

The agreement with TD Bank covers an $8.6 billion card portfolio, according to a Bank of America statement on Monday. It did not disclose the value of the transaction.

TD Group said it will pick up 1.8 million active accounts from the deal and that it would pay a "modest premium" for the card receivables.

"We are very pleased to be acquiring MBNA Canada’s credit card business. This acquisition will position TD as a top card issuer in Canada," said Ed Clark, group president and CEO, TD Bank Group. "We’ve consistently said that we will seize good opportunities that make strategic sense, fit within our risk profile and are financially attractive. This franchise brings new customers to TD, provides attractive additional options for our customers and is a great complement to our existing high-growth credit card business."

"This transaction boosts our capability in credit cards and increases our scale in this business, allowing us to further leverage our distribution capabilities," said Tim Hockey, president and CEO, TD Canada Trust. "Acquiring this business makes TD a dual issuer of both Visa and MasterCard, giving customers greater choice."

The proposed card sale comes as the nation’s biggest bank seeks ways to bulk up its capital cushion as it fights lawsuits and credit problems related to its ill-fated acquisition of home mortgage lender Countrywide Financial three years ago.

The bank has lost more than $22 billion in its consumer mortgage division in the last four quarters. It agreed in June to pay $8.5 billion to mortgage securities investors and is fighting numerous lawsuits challenging the settlement and other mortgage issues.

Bank of America said it agreed on Aug, 3 to sell its card business in Spain to Apollo Capital Management. In April, it sold a small business lending portfolio in the UK to Barclays.