Discover Financial Services subsidiary DFS Services LLC has formed a strategic alliance with National Payments Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) to allow acceptance of NAPAS Global Cards outside of Vietnam on the Discover Global Network, which includes Discover Network, Diners Club International and PULSE.
The partnership will allow acceptance of NAPAS Global Cards outside of Vietnam on the Discover Global Network.
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The Discover Card was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was a unit of Dean Witter, which merged with Morgan Stanley in 1997. In 2007, the unit was spun off as an independent, publicly traded company. Today, Discover is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Riverwoods, Illinois. On December 21, 2001, Fourth quarter income at Discover card issuer Discover Financial Services Inc. grew 31% to $193 million, compared with $147 million the year before.
On March 5, 2002, the company announced that the Account Center at Discovercard.com had registered over eight million card members, an increase of 61 percent since January 2001.That September, they announced that, as of September 1, Citibank would accept the Discover(R) Card for cash advances at its approximately 450 Financial Centers and more than 2,000 ATM locations nationwide. Discover Card is the third largest credit card brand in the United States, when measured by cards in force, with nearly 50 million cardholders.
Discover Card is the third largest credit card brand in the United States.
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NAPAS, owned by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and major banks in Vietnam, operates and manages an interbank connection system for its 46 member banks in Vietnam. This strategic alliance will expand its card payment services and gain global acceptance while maintaining its newly established NAPAS card brand.
The agreement also allows for the member banks to begin issuing NAPAS Global Cards as part of Discover's Global card program. The cards will be issued by NAPAS and run on their network domestically, while Discover Global Network will be enabling global acceptance for the card.
NAPAS is the first and unique intermediary payment service provider being granted license by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) of providing switching and electronic clearing and settlement services in Vietnam.
NAPAS’s majority shareholders include SBV and 15 great commercial banks in Vietnam. NAPAS is operating and managing an inter-bank connection system with 16.800 ATM, 220.000 POS, 90 million domestic cards of 43 domestic commercial banks and foreign banks being operating in Vietnam. NAPAS also provides e-commerce services to more than 200 merchants of airlines, telecommunications, hotels, tourism and other electronic payment services.
With the task complete retail payment infrastructure being appointed by SBV, NAPAS is implementing and building the standard of the domestic chip card for the entire market, building system of electronic clearing automation for retail transactions – ACH research, propose solutions for the development of non-cash payment in Vietnam.
