| Discover Card is one of the four major credit card
brands issued primarily in the United States, with over 50 million
cardholders. The Discover Card was originally introduced by Sears in
1985, and is today operated through a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. In
December 2006, Morgan Stanley announced that it would spin-off Discover
into its own standalone company by the end of September 2007. Discover
is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, Illinois. Most cards with the Discover brand are issued by Discover Bank, which also offers savings products and home loans. Discover Card transactions are processed through the Discover Network payment network. As of February 2006, the company announced that it would begin offering Discover Debit cards to banks, made possible by the Pulse payment system, which Discover acquired in 2004. It is anticipated that, following its spin-off, Discover will retain the MasterCard-branded Goldfish credit card business in the United Kingdom, which Morgan Stanley acquired from Lloyds TSB in December 2005. |
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| Discover Card has over 50 million cardmembers and the
Discover Network has more than 4 million merchant and cash access
locations. The Pulse ATM network currently serves more than 4,100 banks,
credit unions, and savings institutions. However, unlike its
competitors, the Discover Card is neither issued nor widely accepted
outside the U.S., although it can be used to obtain cash from ATM
locations worldwide. In Canada, Discover brand cards are accepted at few locations, usually at businesses catering to American tourists, such as car rental agencies and hotels, as well as major American merchants like Sears and Wal-Mart. Some Canadian businesses do accept Discover cards but opt to favor Visa, Mastercard and American Express. ATM service offered by Discover is not currently available in Canada although cardmembers apparently could access cash at any Sears Canada store. While Discover brand cards are not currently accepted in Europe, the company's presence continues to grow in Mexico, Costa Rica, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Belize, Palau, and many of the Caribbean Island nations. Additionally, in May 2005 Discover Network announced an alliance with China UnionPay Network. The two companies have signed a long-term agreement that will lead to acceptance of Discover Network brand cards at UnionPay ATMs and point-of-sale terminals in China and acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the PULSE network in the U.S. CUP cards have been accepted in the US since December 2005, and Discover Cards have been accepted in China since November 8, 2006. This partnership makes Discover Card the most widely accepted American card in China, beating out competitors Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Neither Discover Financial Services nor China UnionPay have stated whether there are any plans to eventually expand acceptance to the other nations where the CUP network is in place, i.e. Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and South Korea. A similar agreement was made in August, 2006, when the Discover Network announced an alliance with Japan’s JCB Network. On August 24, 2006, Discover’s PULSE network and the UK’s LINK ATM network announced a reciprocal agreement that will allow the 4,200 financial institution participants in the PULSE network to offer their cardholders access to all but a handful of the more than 58,000 cash machines across the UK and allow LINK to offer its 38 participating financial institution members access to an additional 250,000 PULSE cash machines in the United States. Discover also issues credit cards on the MasterCard network under both Goldfish and Morgan Stanley brands in the United Kingdom. |
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