RIVERWOODS, Ill., June 14, 2006 – Discover Network,
a business unit of Discover Financial Services
and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), today announced
the establishment of its Merchant Advisory Council.
The council provides a forum for Discover Network
and member merchants to identify and address relevant
issues and trends in the payments industry, such
as security and fraud protection, merchant support,
and new payment technologies.
“As the
payments industry landscape continues to evolve,
it becomes increasingly important that we leverage
our partnerships to focus on ways to further improve
efficiencies, security and value to the products
and services we provide,” said Harit Talwar, executive
vice president of Discover Network for Discover
Financial Services. “This council enables Discover
Network to do that, while deepening our strong
relationships with merchants as we exchange ideas
and views.”
Discover Network's Merchant
Advisory Committee is currently made up of 21
member companies including American Airlines Inc.,
Darden Restaurants Inc., Enterprise Rent-A-Car,
Knowledge Learning Corp., Kohl's Department Stores
Inc., QuikTrip Corp., The Sharper Image Corp.,
SUPERVALU, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
The
Discover Network Merchant Advisory Council, along
with the existing PULSE Financial Institution
Oversight Committee, ensures a broad representation
of views and perspectives for merchants and issuers
in the PULSE and Discover Networks. Discover acquired
the PULSE EFT Association in January of 2005.
The Merchant Advisory Council will meet
approximately every six months. The first meeting
is scheduled for June 19 – 20, 2006, and will
be held in Chicago.
Discover's expansion
and diversification initiatives over the last
two years represent important steps as it evolves
from a single product issuer into a broad-based
payments company supporting multiple issuers and
products, while bringing choice and value to merchants,
issuers and consumers. Recent initiatives include
the launch of Discover Debit, the company's signature
debit program; the strategic alliance with China
UnionPay; agreements with GE Consumer Finance
to issue co-branded credit cards on the Discover
Network; and the acquisition of the PULSE ATM/debit
network.
About Discover Network
and 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, which is the largest proprietary
credit card network in the U.S. 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.
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CONTACT:
Leslie Beyer
Discover Financial
Services LLC
(224) 405-5154