Amid industry anxiety, MBNA enjoys robust growth.(Company Profile)

Even amid alarms about rising loan delinquencies, MBNA Corp. doesn't stop growing -or pleasing its shareholders.

The king of the affinity credit card - with products that appeal to Frank Sinatra fans and Lexus owners, to followers of baseball, football, and hockey teams as well as the Nascar circuit - just keeps minting profits, with no end in sight to its growth.

"Success is never final," said Charles M. Cawley, president of the Wilmington, Del., card-issuing machine.

"Today we own the affinity business. If we spend too much time thinking about that, tomorrow we won't."

Since its spinoff in 1991 by Baltimore-based MNC Financial Inc., MBNA has seen nothing but blue skies.

In 1995 it had net income of $353 million, up 32% from the previous year. Managed loans grew 43%, to $26.7 billion, and the issuer added six million accounts, for a total of 13.2 million, making it second only to Citicorp in the bank card industry.

At the end of this year's first quarter, outstandings had grown 37% year- over-year, to $27.8 billion. The company's MBNA America Bank added 1.8 million new accounts in the quarter, and net income rose …