U.S. Bancorp was selected as one of four financial institutions to win a 10-year, multibillion-dollar contract to provide credit card services to the federal government, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reported.

The other winners were Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and GE Capital Financial.

The four companies will compete for business from more than 350 agencies that make about $26 billion a year in credit card purchases, the U.S. General Services Administration said today.

Federal agencies are not permitted to roll a credit card balance from month to month, so banks participating in the program would likely earn their money from interchange fees charged to merchants. The GSA said the cards are used roughly 98 million times a year.

The new contract begins in 2008 and replaces one set to expire in November.