Guaranty Bank of Milwaukee has expanded its agreement with Pulse EFT Association LP and will now use the Houston debit unit of Discover Financial Services as its exclusive PIN debit network.
Pulse, which announced the agreement Tuesday, has carried some of the $2 billion-asset Guaranty's debit and automated teller machine transactions since 1996.
Banks have long worked with numerous regional debit networks to ensure that customers could use cards anywhere, but as the networks have expanded to offer nationwide coverage, exclusive debit deals have become more common.
Last week Marshall & Ilsley Corp. agreed to use Metavante Technologies Inc.'s NYCE Payments Network LLC as its exclusive debit network.
Leah Henderson, a Pulse executive vice president, said in a press release that Guaranty's "new exclusive agreement represents a vote of confidence … in Pulse's national acceptance."
Guaranty has 175 branches and more than 300 ATMs in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Georgia.
