Metris Will Issue Credit Cards on Discover’s Network by Year’s End

Metris Cos. Inc. announced today it will begin issuing cards on Discover Financial Services LLC.'s acceptance network by the end of the year. Metris, the nation's 11th-largest issuer of bank cards, said it will issue a new credit card under the Discover banner through its Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank N.A. subsidiary. “We are excited about this partnership and believe this new credit card offering on the Discover network will resonate with our middle-market prospect universe,” said Matt Melius, executive vice president at Metris and president of the bank, in a statement. The deal represents Discover's second major arrangement under which a bank card issuer has agreed to issue cards on the Morgan Stanley unit's network. Early this year, GE Consumer Finance Inc. struck a deal to issue Discover cards co-branded with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Digital Transactions News, Jan. 24). Both Discover and American Express Co. have been seeking such deals with banks since the U.S. Supreme Court last year let stand a lower court ruling that invalidated a Visa U.S.A. and MasterCard International ruling prohibiting members from issuing cards on the non-bank networks. The Discover agreement with Metris is also its first bank deal since Morgan Stanley decided late this summer to retain the card company. Previously, it had been seeking a buyer for the unit.