I got interested in Card Agreements a while back and did a little digging on how they work, especially internationally. Of the major 4 card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) only Discover seems to do things a little differently. Discover partners with local card networks instead of only using their own, through their ‘Discover Global Network’.
Visa, Mastercard, and AMEX try to insert their presence in a country or region by using their own brand. Visa and Mastercard have done this well though large cardmember numbers (extremely aggressively, eventually leading to a lawsuit that Discover won) as they have near global acceptance. Discover lags behind on acceptance because of their relatively young age (but are quickly catching up), while AMEX is not globally accepted due to their slow merchant acceptance rate mostly due to high swipe fees. Visa and Mastercard charge the lowest fees, then discover, and AMEX charges the most by a large margin. You can look up the fee rates online. Visa and Mastercard just absorb local companies to increase their acceptance as well as getting banks to issue cards on their networks. In search for Discover’s agreements, I never found a comprehensive list, so I hope to create that here. Keep in mind that all of this is in addition to Discover’s own presence in multiple countries. It will be updated as I get more info.
| Country | Network |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Cabal |
| Austria | EUFISERV Payments |
| Bahrain | Arab Financial Services (AFS) |
| Bahrain | Eazy Sign |
| Belgium | EUFISERV Payments |
| Brazil | Elo |
| Brazil | Cabal |
| Bulgaria | Borica/Bcard |
| Canada (Mostly Quebec) | Desjardins Group |
| China | UnionPay |
| China | Allinpay |
| Denmark | Nets |
| Finland | Nets |
| France | La Banque Postale |
| France | Crédit Mutuel Arkéa |
| France | EUFISERV Payments |
| Germany | EUFISERV Payments |
| Hong Kong | JCB |
| Hong Kong | Allinpay |
| India | BANCOMAT |
| India | RuPay |
| International* | Diner’s Club (*59 Countries with Varying Acceptance) |
| Ireland | EVO |
| Japan | JCB |
| Jordan | Network International Jordan |
| Lebanon | areeba |
| Malaysia | Paynet |
| Mexico | Prosa |
| Nigeria | Interswitch LTD |
| Norway | Nets |
| Oman | NBO (National Bank of Oman) |
| Paraguay | Cabal |
| Portugal | EUFISERV Payments |
| Portugal | SIBS MB |
| Puerto Rico | ATH |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Payments |
| Serbia | Dinacard |
| Singapore | FOMO Pay |
| South Korea | BC Card |
| Southeast Asia (online) | 2C2P |
| Spain | EUFISERV Payments |
| Sweden | EUFISERV Payments |
| Sweden | Nets |
| Switzerland | EUFISERV Payments |
| Taiwan | NCCC |
| Turkey | BKM |
| Turkey | Troy |
| United Arab Emirates | Network International |
| United Kingdom | Barclaycard |
| United Kingdom | EVO |
| United States | Discover |
| Uruguay | Cabal |
| Vietnam | NAPAS (National Payments Corporation of Vietnam) |
Sources: Discover Press Releases from the Investor Center
Last updated: 2024-01-15