The merchant-acquiring deal Discover Financial Services struck this week with Global Payments Inc. to expand acceptance for its Discover and Diners Club cards in Europe and Asia caps a string of similar deals the company has inked over the past year. But it likely will not be Discover’s last such international acquiring deal, Gerard Wagner, Discover vice president of global acceptance, tells PaymentsSource.
In several markets around the world, including in Asia, Diners Club brand franchisees within the past two years have conceded exclusivity for acquiring and acceptance, enabling Discover to open those markets to other acquirers, Wagner says. “Where franchisees have renounced exclusivity, it allows us to go in and do deals where we can open up the market to multiple acquirers,” he says.
In Discover’s deal with Global, Global’s merchant locations will accept Discover and Diners Club cards throughout the United Kingdom and in other Western Europe regions, as well as in Hong Kong, India and Taiwan. “Global has a strong acceptance presence in the UK, and while we already had acceptance there, it adds further depth,” Wagner says.
Discover in 2008 acquired Diners Club International Ltd., an upscale card brand primarily catering to corporations and frequent business travelers, in part to help broaden Discover card acceptance worldwide, company executives said. Discover is now accepted everywhere Diners Club card are.
Last year, Discover inked more than half a dozen other deals with merchant acquirers around the world (
Discover declines to disclose its total number of merchant-acceptance points, including outside of the U.S. But the company has expanded card acceptance–and cash-access for Diners Club cardholders–substantially around the world within the last 12 months through its Pulse PIN-debit network. Although Discover “continues to expand the company’s credit card brands’ acceptance, Wagner declined to identify other markets where Discover is looking to expand internationally.
Wagner, who oversaw Discover’s card-acceptance expansion in the U.S. through agreements with multiple acquirers beginning in 2007, previously was vice president of international acceptance. He was promoted to his new position in January and now oversees ATM and point-of-sale acceptance for the company’s Discover, Diners Club and Pulse brands.
