Synchrony Financial (SYF)

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this quarterly report and in our 2025 Form 10-K. The discussion below contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Introduction and Business Overview ____________________________________________________________________________________________

We are a premier consumer financial services company delivering one of the industry's most complete digitally-enabled product suites. Our experience, expertise and scale encompass a broad spectrum of industries including digital, health and wellness, retail, telecommunications, home, auto, outdoor, pet and more. We have an established and diverse group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations and healthcare service providers, which we refer to as our “partners.” For the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, we financed $49.8 billion and $92.8 billion of purchase volume, respectively, and had 68.3 million and 68.7 million average active accounts, respectively, and at June 30, 2026, we had $102.2 billion of loan receivables.

We offer our credit products primarily through our wholly-owned subsidiary, the Bank. In addition, through the Bank, we offer, directly to retail, affinity relationships and commercial customers, a range of deposit products insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), including certificates of deposit, individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), money market accounts, savings accounts and sweep and affinity deposits. We also take deposits at the Bank through third-party firms that offer our FDIC-insured deposit products to their customers. Our deposit base has continued to serve as a source of stable and diversified low-cost funding for our credit activities. At June 30, 2026, we had $82.8 billion in deposits, which represented 83% of our total funding sources.

Our Sales Platforms

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We conduct our operations through a single business segment. Profitability and expenses, including funding costs, credit losses and operating expenses, are managed for the business as a whole. Substantially all of our revenue generating activities are within the United States and are aligned through five sales platforms (Home & Auto, Digital, Diversified & Value, Health & Wellness and Lifestyle). Those platforms are organized by the types of partners we work with, and are measured on interest and fees on loans, loan receivables, active accounts and other sales metrics.

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Home & Auto

Our Home & Auto sales platform provides comprehensive payments and financing solutions with integrated in-store and digital experiences through a broad network of partners and merchants providing home and automotive merchandise and services, as well as our Synchrony Car Care network and Synchrony HOME credit card offering. Our Home & Auto sales platform partners include a wide range of key retailers in the home improvement, furniture, bedding, flooring, appliance and electronics industries, such as Ashley HomeStores, Inc., Floor & Decor, Lowe's, and Mattress Firm, as well as automotive merchandise and services, such as Chevron and Discount Tire. In addition, we also have program agreements with manufacturers, buying groups and industry associations, such as Generac, Nationwide Marketing Group and the Home Furnishings Association.

Digital

Our Digital sales platform provides comprehensive payments and financing solutions with integrated digital experiences through partners and merchants who primarily engage with their consumers through digital channels. Our Digital sales platform includes key partners delivering digital payment solutions, such as PayPal, including our Venmo program, online marketplaces, such as Amazon, and digital-first brands and merchants, such as the QVC Group, Inc., Verizon and Virgin Red.

Diversified & Value

Our Diversified & Value sales platform provides comprehensive payments and financing solutions with integrated in-store and digital experiences through large retail partners who deliver everyday value to consumers shopping for daily needs or important life moments. Our Diversified & Value sales platform is comprised of six large retail partners: Belk, Fleet Farm, JCPenney, OnePay, Sam's Club and TJX Companies, Inc.

Health & Wellness

Our Health & Wellness sales platform provides comprehensive healthcare payments and financing solutions, through a network of providers and retail locations, for those seeking health and wellness care for themselves, their families and their pets, and includes our CareCredit brand, as well as partners such as Walgreens.

Lifestyle

Our Lifestyle sales platform provides comprehensive payments and financing solutions with integrated in-store and digital experiences through partners and merchants who offer merchandise in power sports, outdoor power equipment, and other industries such as sporting goods, apparel, jewelry and music. Our Lifestyle sales platform partners include a wide range of key retailers in the apparel, specialty retail, outdoor, music and luxury industry, such as American Eagle, DICK'S Sporting Goods, Guitar Center, Pandora, Polaris, Suzuki and Sweetwater.

Corp, Other

Corp, Other includes activity and balances related to certain program agreements with retail partners and merchants that will not be renewed beyond their current expiration date and certain programs that were previously terminated, which are not managed within the five sales platforms discussed above, as well as fee income generated from Versatile Credit. Corp, Other also includes amounts related to changes in the fair value of equity investments and realized gains or losses associated with the sale of businesses and investments.

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Our Credit Products

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Through our sales platforms, we offer three principal types of credit products: credit cards, commercial credit products and consumer installment loans. We also offer our Payment Security program, which is a debt cancellation product.

The following table sets forth each credit product by type and indicates the percentage of our total loan receivables that are under standard terms only or pursuant to a promotional financing offer at June 30, 2026:

Credit Cards

We offer the following principal types of consumer credit cards:

•Private Label Credit Cards. Private label credit cards are partner-branded credit cards (e.g., Lowe’s or Amazon) or program-branded credit cards (e.g., Synchrony Car Care or CareCredit) that are used primarily for the purchase of goods and services from the partner or within the program network. In addition, in some cases, cardholders may be permitted to access their credit card accounts for cash advances. Credit under our private label credit cards is extended either on standard terms only or pursuant to a promotional financing offer.

•Co-Branded Cards. Our co-branded cards comprise our patented Dual Cards and general purpose co-branded credit cards. Our Dual Cards are credit cards that function as private label credit cards when used to purchase goods and services from our partners, and as general purpose credit cards when used to make purchases from other retailers wherever cards from those card networks are accepted or for cash advance transactions. We also offer a Synchrony-branded general purpose credit card. Our co-branded cards are offered across all of our sales platforms and credit is typically extended on standard terms only. We offer consumer co-branded cards through over 15 of our large partners, of which the majority are Dual Cards, as well as our CareCredit Dual Card. Our consumer co-branded cards totaled 34% of our total loan receivables portfolio at June 30, 2026.

Commercial Credit Products

We offer private label cards and Dual Cards for commercial customers that are similar to our consumer offerings, and includes the Lowe's commercial co-branded credit card portfolio acquired in April 2026. We also offer a commercial pay-in-full accounts receivable product to a wide range of business customers.

Installment Loans

We originate secured installment loans to consumers in the United States, primarily in our Lifestyle sales platform for power products in our Outdoor market (motorcycles, ATVs and lawn and garden). We also offer unsecured installment loans to consumers across all of our sales platforms through various products, such as Synchrony's Pay Later solutions. Installment loans are closed-end credit accounts where the customer pays down the outstanding balance in installments. Installment loans, other than our Synchrony Pay Later Pay in 4 product, are generally assessed periodic finance charges using fixed interest rates.

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Business Trends and Conditions

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We believe our business and results of operations will be impacted in the future by various trends and conditions. For a discussion of certain trends and conditions, see “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Business Trends and Conditions” in our 2025 Form 10-K. For a discussion of how certain trends and conditions impacted the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, see “—Results of Operations.”

Seasonality

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Our business is typically influenced by a seasonal pattern, with purchase volume and loan receivables typically rising beginning in the third quarter and generally peaking in fourth quarter, including the impacts of consumer spending for U.S. holidays, then declining through the first and second quarters as customers pay their balances down.

Delinquency rates and delinquent loan receivables balances typically rise in the third and fourth quarters as customer payment rates typically decline, resulting in higher net charge-off rates in the first half of the calendar year. Delinquent loan receivables at year-end are more likely to return to current status than those delinquent at interim period ends. Consistent with this historical experience, our allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loan receivables is generally higher at interim period ends than at year-end and may increase mid-year even when certain credit metrics improve.

These seasonal impacts to purchase volume and our loan receivables balances may materially affect our results of operations, delinquency metrics and the allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loan receivables with the most pronounced effects typically occurring between the fourth quarter and the subsequent first quarter.

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Results of Operations

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. For a discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations comparing 2024 vs. 2023, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024 (our “2024 Form 10-K”). The discussion below contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations. See “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

Results of Operations for the Three Years Ended December 31, 2025

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Key Earnings Metrics

Performance Metrics

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Growth Metrics

Asset Quality Metrics

Funding, Liquidity and Capital(1)

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(1)Reported metrics represent amounts at December 31 of the applicable year.

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Summary Highlights for the Year Ended December 31, 2025

Earnings

Trends disclosed below are compared to the year ended December 31, 2024, as applicable, except as otherwise noted.

Net earnings increased 1.5% to $3.6 billion for the year ended December 31, 2025, primarily reflecting the following key drivers:

•Decrease in provision for credit losses of $1.5 billion, primarily driven by lower net charge-offs, as well as a reserve release in the current year as compared to a reserve build in the prior year.

•Increase in net interest income of $455 million, primarily driven by lower interest expense and an increase in interest and fees on loans of 0.5%, partially offset by lower interest income on investment securities.

•These drivers were partially offset by lower other income due to the gain on sale related to Pets Best of $1.1 billion in the prior year, as well as higher retailer share arrangements.

Loan receivables and Asset Quality

•Loan receivables decreased 0.9% to $103.8 billion at December 31, 2025, reflecting the effects of higher payment rates as a result of our improved credit mix as well as flat purchase volume and lower average active accounts compared to the prior year.

•Over-30 day loan delinquencies as a percentage of period-end loan receivables decreased 21 basis points to 4.49% at December 31, 2025 from 4.70% at December 31, 2024. The net charge-off rate decreased 66 basis points to 5.65% for the year ended December 31, 2025.

•Our allowance coverage ratio (allowance for credit losses as a percentage of period-end loan receivables) decreased to 10.06% at December 31, 2025, as compared to 10.44% at December 31, 2024.

Funding, Liquidity and Capital

•At December 31, 2025, deposits represented 84% of our total funding sources. Total deposits decreased 1.1% to $81.1 billion at December 31, 2025, compared to December 31, 2024.

•During the year ended December 31, 2025, we repurchased $2.9 billion of our outstanding common stock, and declared and paid cash dividends of $1.15 per common share, or $427 million in the aggregate. At December 31, 2025 we had a total share repurchase authorization of $1.2 billion remaining.

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2025 Acquisitions and Partner Agreements

In October 2025, we acquired Versatile Credit, Inc. ("Versatile Credit"), a leading multi-source financing platform connecting merchants, lenders and consumers through point-of-sale solutions.

During the year ended December 31, 2025, and to date, we continued to expand and diversify our portfolios with the addition or renewal of more than 75 partners, which included the following:

•In addition, we expanded our existing Lowe's commercial program and announced the acquisition of the Lowe's commercial co-branded credit card portfolio, with loan receivables of approximately $0.8 billion, which is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

•In October 2025, we also sold $0.2 billion of loan receivables associated with a Home & Auto partner program agreement.

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Other Financial and Statistical Data

The following table sets forth certain other financial and statistical data for the periods indicated.

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(1)Purchase volume, or net credit sales, represents the aggregate amount of charges incurred on credit cards or other credit product accounts less returns during the period.

(2)Includes activity and accounts associated with loan receivables held for sale.

(3)Active accounts represent credit card or installment loan accounts on which there has been a purchase, payment or outstanding balance in the current month.

(4)Net interest margin represents net interest income divided by average total interest-earning assets.

(5)Allowance coverage ratio represents allowance for credit losses divided by total period-end loan receivables.

(6)Return on assets represents net earnings as a percentage of average total assets.

(7)Return on equity represents net earnings as a percentage of average total equity.

(8)Equity to assets represents average equity as a percentage of average total assets.

(9)Efficiency ratio represents (i) other expense, divided by (ii) sum of net interest income, plus other income, less retailer share arrangements.

(10)Based on customer statement-end balances extrapolated to the respective period-end date.

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Average Balance Sheet

The following table sets forth information for the periods indicated regarding average balance sheet data, which are used in the discussion of interest income, interest expense and net interest income that follows.

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