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Discover Financial Services is on the verge of a major expansion of Discover, Diners Club, and Pulse acceptance across Europe and the Middle East following Friday’s announcement of a deal with a third-party provider.
Riverwoods, Ill.-based Discover says it will work with 3C Payment, a Luxembourg-based payment service provider that works with hospitality, quick-service restaurant, and retail merchants, to expand acceptance of its products among these merchants.
“We’re always looking for ways to expand global acceptance for our cardholders, especially in the key travel and hospitality sectors,” said Amy Parsons, senior vice president of global acceptance at Discover. “3C Payment has an extensive footprint in Europe and the Middle East and our cardholders will benefit from their network of top merchants and retailers.”
Discover says more than 44 million merchant-acceptance locations accept its cards and its cardholders can use 2 million ATM and cash-access sites in 190 countries and territories.
This is the latest is a string of expansion efforts, dating back more than 10 years to when Discover opened its U.S. network to third-party acquirers. This program, along with several international acceptance deals, has increased Discover’s merchant-acceptance locations from 7.1 million in 2007 to 42.5 million in 2017, according to Discover’s 2017 annual report.
