NEW YORK – Credit card issuer MBNA Corp. on Friday began rolling out its new American Express-branded cards, a move that American Express chairman and chief executive Kenneth Chenault described as the first step in a “transformation in the payments industry in America.”
The credit cards — which MBNA is offering to alumni associations, professional groups and recreational organizations — are the first under a deal announced by the two companies last January.
The introduction of the cards was delayed until the Supreme Court issued a final ruling in a federal antitrust case in which the Justice Department had accused the two biggest card associations in America, Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard International Inc., of restraining competition.
The high court’s decision last month let stand a lower court ruling requiring Visa and MasterCard to allow their member banks to issue competing cards. That cleared the way for American Express Co. of New York and Discover Financial Services Inc., a division of the New York-based Morgan Stanley, to begin partnering with U.S. financial institutions.
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