Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Discover Financial Services, the fourth-largest credit-card network, said it won preliminary approval to receive about $1.2 billion from the U.S. Treasury as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Discover will sell preferred shares and warrants to the U.S. government, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing today.

The credit-card network joins banks, insurers and other companies including American Express Co. in seeking to bolster finances with help from federal programs. Last month, the Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover said fiscal fourth-quarter profit from continuing operations more than doubled to $444 million, or 92 cents a share.

Discover declined 33 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $7.61 in regular New York trading today, and has slumped 42 percent in the past year. It has dropped 73 percent since Morgan Stanley spun off the company in June 2007.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Reichl at dreichl@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 15, 2009 17:58 EST