The competition unleashed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in October began to take shape Monday as Discover Financial Services acquired PULSE EFT Association for about $311 million.
Discover Financial Services says the deal, expected to close in about 60 days, will create a leading electronic payments company.
“The acquisition would not have been allowed before the Supreme Court’s decision,” said David W. Nelms, chairman and chief executive officer of Discover Financial services in Riverwoods, Ill. “The combined companies will provide financial institutions of every size and type with a full-service debit platform and a complete product set, including credit, signature debit, PIN debit, gift card, stored value card and ATM services.”
Discover Financial Services, a unit of Morgan Stanley, operates the Discover Card and the Discover Network. It has about 50 million cardholders and about four million merchants who accept the card. Visa International, owned by 21,000 financial institutions—including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo—has about one billion cards in circulation and handles authorization, transaction processing and settlement services for about 24 million merchants worldwide.
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