NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) -

Goldman Sachs ( GS ) CEO David Solomon on Wednesday

dismissed the notion that the bank's early exit from its credit

card partnership with General Motors ( GM ) was messy, saying

the firm had anticipated the problems.

His comments to CNBC came after he said earlier this

week that Goldman would take a charge from unwinding the

business.

"I actually don't think it's proving to be messier than

we thought," Solomon told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday

when asked if the exit was messier than the firm hoped.

"It is very unusual for people to transition credit card

programs in the middle of contract periods."

Goldman will probably take a $400 million pretax charge

from the sale of loans to small and medium retail businesses and

its exit from the GM credit card partnership

, Solomon told investors earlier this week.

The bank is close to finalizing a deal to transfer its joint

credit card business with GM to Barclays ( JJCTF ), a source

familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

The exit from the business partnership with GM, which has

about $2 billion of outstanding loans, is part of Goldman Sachs' ( GS )

move to narrow its focus on consumer services.

Solomon expects the U.S. Federal Reserve to cut interest

rates two or three times this year, with a first 25 basis-point

move later this month.

"My view on this is... very data dependent and the data

has evolved during the year," he said.