RIVERWOODS, Ill. – Discover Financial Services said last week its profit fell 11% for its fiscal third quarter ended Aug. 31, as loan losses piled up, even as transaction volume on its cards rose sharply.
Discover, the parent of Pulse EFT, reported that net income fell to $180 million, or 37 cents per share, from $202 million, or 42 cents per share, for the same period last year.
Total revenue net of interest expense rose 8% to $1.3 billion from $1.2 billion.
Discover said that transaction volume in its third-party payments segment soared 48%, to $35 billion, from a year ago. The company said the growth was due to signing on new card issuers, as well as an increase in transaction volume from already existing issuers.
The company said that its acquisition of Diners Club International from Citigroup, which was completed in June, added to the already strong results of its third-party payments segment, which processes teller-machine and debit transactions.
