Capital One announced this morning that it will purchase the U.S. credit card arm of HSBC for $2.6 billion, Reuters reported. HSBC has a credit card portfolio with $30 billion in receivables. Capital One said it expects to complete the acquisition in the second quarter of 2012. For HSBC, the sale is part of a strategic realignment that includes the recently announced sale of 195 U.S. branches in western New York to First Niagara Corp. In June, Capital One said it would acquire online banker ING Direct. The deal would make Capital One the nation’s fifth-largest deposit gatherer, behind Bank of America N.A., Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.