Discover and Diners Club cardholders will be able to access more than 74,000 automated teller machines in Europe under a deal designed to lengthen the two brands' global reach.
Trionis, a Belgian card processor, signed the ATM acquiring deal with Pulse, an electronic funds transfer network owned by Discover Financial Services Inc. of Riverwoods, Ill. Discover bought Diners Club International in April 2008.
Banks from nine European countries, along with First Data Corp. of Atlanta and the European Savings Banks Group, own Trionis. (First Data is a unit of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.)
"Issuing cards other than the two well-known bank-card brands is becoming increasingly popular with issuer banks in Europe," a Trionis representative said. "However, it does not always make sense for these issuers to spend a lot of money on building the required gateways, and this is where Trionis can act as a single-gateway provider."
Trionis provides similar services for China UnionPay, American Express Co. and European-centered card brands, the representative said.
The Trionis agreement is "part of a global strategy to increase ATM acceptance of both Diners Club and Discover cards, necessitated by" Discover's purchase of Diners Club, a Pulse spokeswoman said. "Additional ATMs and over-the-counter cash-access locations will be added on an ongoing basis as Pulse continues to build the global network for Diners Club and Discover cardmembers."
