Riverwoods, Illinois – February 16, 2006 – Discover
Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan
Stanley (NYSE:MS), and Credomatic International
Corporation, a subsidiary of BAC International
Bank Inc., have signed an agreement that facilitates
the acceptance of Discover
® Network
Cards at more than 65,000 merchant locations in
Central America.
Effective today, Credomatic
and its affiliates will begin targeting major
merchants in tourist destinations to offer the
Discover
® Network merchant acceptance
program. At a later date, the offer of Discover
Network Card acceptance will be extended to the
company's entire merchant portfolio throughout
the region.
Credomatic facilitates credit
card services for more than 65,000 merchants in
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Panama. Discover Network is Discover
Financial's payment network that provides support
to issuers, acquirers, merchants, cash advance
providers and their respective processors.
“Our
agreement with Credomatic extends acceptance of
Discover Network Cards into Central America for
the first time,” said David Nelms, Discover Financial
Services chairman and chief executive officer.
“We are pleased to offer Discover Network Cardholders
the ability to use their Cards in Central America.
This is in addition to the acceptance we have
already established at popular tourist destinations
such as the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada.”
“Adding
Discover Network Card acceptance to our network
merchant acceptance program allows us to provide
even better service to our merchant customers
as we bring them 50 million additional Discover
Network Cardholders,” said Ernesto Castegnaro,
chief executive officer of Credomatic International
Corporation. “Our merchants appreciate having
access to more customers and to relevant international
brands. We are enthusiastic about delivering better
service to our merchants through our association
with Discover Network.”
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, the
Discover
® Network with more than 4
million merchant and cash access locations and
the PULSE
® ATM/debit network currently
serving more than 4,200 banks, credit unions and
savings institutions. For more information, visit
www.discovercard.com,
www.discovernetwork.com
or
www.pulse-eft.com.
About Credomatic Founded
in 1970, Credomatic International Corporation
is the leading card issuer and merchant acquirer
in Central America. It processed $3.32 billion
in merchant sales in 2004 for over 65,000 merchant
locations in the region. It operates in Guatemala,
Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
Panama and Mexico. Earlier this year, Credomatic
announced a new partnership with GE Consumer Finance
in which GE acquired 49.99% of BAC International
Bank, Credomatic's parent company. GE Consumer
Finance is one of the largest consumer lending
businesses in North America.
CONTACTS:
Leslie Beyer
Discover Financial Services
224-405-5154