Riverwoods, Illinois and Shanghai, China - May
26, 2005 – Discover Financial Services, Inc.,
a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD) and
owner of Discover
® Network and PULSE
®
ATM/debit network, and China UnionPay (CUP), the
only national bankcard association in China, today
announced they have entered into a strategic alliance.
The two companies have signed a long-term
agreement that will lead to acceptance of Discover
Network Cards at China UnionPay ATMs and point-of-sale
terminals in China and acceptance of China UnionPay
cards on the PULSE network in the U.S. Both sides
agreed to pursue ways to enable acceptance of
China UnionPay cards at Discover Network's more
than four million merchant and cash access locations
in North America.
“We look forward to
working with Discover Financial Services to expand
customer convenience in North America and China,”
said Wan Jianhua, President and CEO of China UnionPay.
“There are over 800 million CUP cards and this
alliance will make it possible for China UnionPay
cardholders to use their cards while traveling
in the U.S.”
Similarly, the agreement
will enable Discover Network cardmembers to use
their cards while traveling in China.
“This
agreement will provide one of the world's largest
card bases access to merchant locations and ATMs
in the U.S.,” said David Nelms, Chairman and CEO
of Discover Financial Services. “We're very excited
about the benefits this relationship will bring
to cardmembers, merchants and financial institutions.”
PULSE's financial institution participants
and other ATM operators will benefit from the
additional network volume China UnionPay cardholders
will deliver as they conduct transactions at U.S.
ATMs and point-of-sale terminals. In addition,
merchants on the PULSE network will gain access
to the new spending power from Chinese tourists
using their China UnionPay cards in the U.S.
The agreement expands acceptance of Discover
Network Cards to another destination market for
U.S. travelers. Discover Network Cards are already
accepted in other regions popular with U.S. tourists,
such as the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.
# # #
About China UnionPay
China UnionPay (CUP) is the only bankcard
association in China. There are over 800 million
CUP cards. CUP started its international expansion
by opening acceptance of CUP cards in Hong Kong
in January 2004, Macao in September 2004, Singapore,
Thailand and South Korea in January 2005.
www.chinaunionpay.com/englishversion
About Discover Financial
Services Discover Financial Services,
Inc., a business unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD),
operates the Discover
® Card with more
than 50 million Cardmembers, the Discover
®
Network with more than 4 million merchant and
cash access locations and the PULSE
®
ATM/debit network currently serving more than
4,100 banks, credit unions and savings institutions.
For more information, visit
www.discovercard.com,
www.discovernetwork.com
or
www.pulse-eft.com.
CONTACT:
Jennifer Kang
Discover
Financial Services, Inc.
(224) 405-2347
Jeffrey X. Huang
China UnionPay
86-21-61006508