Riverwoods, Illinois and Tokyo, Japan
– August 23, 2006 – Discover Financial
Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley
(NYSE:MS), and JCB, the largest card issuer and
acquirer in Japan, today announced they have entered
into a strategic relationship that will lead to
increased card acceptance for both companies.
The two parties have agreed to an arrangement
that will facilitate acceptance of JCB cards on
the Discover Network in the U.S., and of Discover
Network cards on the JCB network in Japan, and
acceptance of PULSE cards at targeted ATMs in
Japan at the option of the card issuer. In 2007,
Discover Network will begin enabling its systems
so JCB cardholders will be able to use their JCB
cards at Discover Network merchant locations throughout
the United States. Upon completion of a JCB system
enhancement, Discover Network cardholders will
be able to use their cards for purchases at JCB
merchant locations and for cash advances at targeted
ATMs throughout Japan beginning in 2008.
“This strategic relationship with Discover
will bring significant expansion of JCB card acceptance
in the United States,” said Hiroya Nobuhara, president
and CEO, JCB. “The alliance with Discover will
provide a great level of convenience for our cardholders
who travel to the U.S. In addition, by offering
Discover Network acceptance to its Japanese merchants,
JCB expects to further strengthen its position
in providing credit card payment solutions in
Japan.”
JCB merchants in Japan also
are expected to gain access to the incremental
card spend of Discover Network cardholders. Based
on U.S. Department of Commerce statistics, Discover
projects that more than 1 million Americans will
travel to Japan in 2006, and will spend more than
$3,400 per trip, on average.
Discover
expects this strategic deal will provide new opportunities
for many U.S. merchants who will benefit from
the spending of Japanese visitors. According to
the U.S. Department of Commerce, more than 3.8
million Japanese travelers visited the U.S. in
2005, and spent more than $12.9 billion.
“Our relationship with JCB will facilitate
bidirectional international commerce, which will
create new opportunities for U.S. merchants to
serve JCB cardholders traveling to the U.S. from
Japan and other countries,” said David Nelms,
chairman and CEO of Discover Financial Services.
“This agreement also creates value for Discover
Network cardholders by expanding acceptance into
Japan, which is a key international market.”
Discover Network cards already are accepted
in other regions popular with U.S. travelers,
including Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Discover
also recently signed an agreement that will enable
the acceptance of Discover Network cards in Central
America. Last year, Discover entered into a strategic
alliance with China UnionPay to provide acceptance
in China and other markets.
The agreement
with JCB represents another important step for
Discover as it continues to evolve into a broad-based
payments company supporting multiple issuers and
products, while bringing choice and value to merchants,
issuers and consumers. Other key initiatives include:
agreements with more than a dozen credit and prepaid
issuers to issue cards on Discover Network including
HSBC and GE Money; the launch of Discover Debit,
Discover's signature debit program; and the acquisition
of the PULSE ATM/debit network.
About
JCB JCB is an international credit
card brand and the largest card issuer and acquirer
in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan
in 1961 and began expanding overseas in 1981.
Its merchant network includes more than 13 million
merchants and spans 190 countries and territories.
JCB cards are now issued in 20 countries and territories,
with more than 57 million card members. As part
of its international growth strategy, JCB has
formed alliances with more than 350 leading banks
and financial institutions globally to increase
merchant coverage and cardmember base. As a comprehensive
payment solutions company, JCB is committed to
providing high-quality payment services to customers,
merchants, and partners. For further information,
please visit the JCB home page at
www.jcb-global.com/english/
or
www.jcbcorporate.com/english/.
About Discover Financial Services
Discover Financial Services LLC, a business
unit of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), operates the
Discover Card with more than 50 million Cardmembers,
and the Discover Network, with more than 4 million
merchant and cash access locations. Discover Financial
Services also operates the PULSE ATM/debit network,
which serves more than 4,200 financial institutions
and includes nearly 250,000 ATMs and approximately
3.4 million POS terminals. For more information,
visit
www.discovercard.com,
www.discovernetwork.com
or
www.pulse-eft.com.
# # #
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Leslie Beyer
Discover Financial
Services
+1 224-405-5154
lesliebeyer@discoverfinancial.com
Kazumi Kinoshita
JCB Co., Ltd.
+81
3 5778 8390
kazumi.kinoshita@jcb.co.jp