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 | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Cabal | press release |
| Austria | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Bahrain | Arab Financial Services (AFS) | press release |
| Bahrain | Eazy Sign | press release |
| Belgium | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Brazil | Elo | press release |
| Brazil | Cabal | press release |
| Bulgaria | Borica/Bcard | press release |
| Canada (Mostly Quebec) | Desjardins Group | press release |
| China | UnionPay | press release |
| China | Allinpay | press release |
| Denmark | Nets | press release |
| Finland | Nets | press release |
| France | La Banque Postale | press release |
| France | Crédit Mutuel Arkéa | press release |
| France | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Germany | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Hong Kong | JCB | press release |
| Hong Kong | Allinpay | press release |
| India | BANCOMAT | press release |
| India | RuPay | press release |
| International* | Diner’s Club (*59 Countries with Varying Acceptance) | |
| Ireland | EVO | press release |
| Japan | JCB | press release |
| Jordan | Network International Jordan | press release |
| Lebanon | areeba | press release |
| Malaysia | Paynet | press release |
| Mexico | Prosa | press release |
| Nigeria | Interswitch LTD | press release |
| Norway | Nets | press release |
| Oman | NBO (National Bank of Oman) | press release |
| Paraguay | Cabal | press release |
| Portugal | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Portugal | SIBS MB | press release |
| Puerto Rico | ATH | press release |
| Saudi Arabia | Saudi Payments | press release |
| Serbia | Dinacard | press release |
| Singapore | FOMO Pay | press release |
| South Korea | BC Card | press release |
| Singapore | NETS (Network for Electronic Transfers) | press release |
| Southeast Asia (online) | 2C2P | press release |
| Spain | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Sweden | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Sweden | Nets | press release |
| Switzerland | EUFISERV Payments | press release |
| Taiwan | NCCC | press release |
| Turkey | BKM | press release |
| Turkey | Troy | press release |
| United Arab Emirates | Network International | press release |
| United Kingdom | Barclaycard | press release |
| United Kingdom | EVO | press release |
| United States | Discover | |
| Uruguay | Cabal | press release |
| Vietnam | NAPAS (National Payments Corporation of Vietnam) | press release |
Sources: Discover Press Releases from the Investor Center
Last updated: 2025-09-12