Diners Club And MasterCard Finalize Alliance

As part of the alliance, Diners Club cards that are issued in the United States and Canada will be redesigned to include the MasterCard Brand Mark and Hologram on the front of the card in order to function as MasterCard cards. These cards will be accepted at the more than 22 million merchant locations worldwide where MasterCard credit cards are accepted. In addition, the cards will provide rich benefits that cardmembers value, including the award-winning Club Rewards Program, unmatched customer service, and industry leading information products. The redesigned cards will be issued in a phased approach, beginning with corporate and personal Diners Club cards across Canada in November 2004. Diners Club also plans to offer cards enhanced with MasterCard acceptance to new U.S. corporate customers by the end of this year. Phase two of the implementation will include distribution of the enhanced cards to existing Diners Club cardmembers in the U.S. Additional details will be made available at a later date. Diners Club cards issued by Diners Club International franchises (outside the United States and Canada) will include the MasterCard brand on the back of the card, enabling these cards to be accepted at MasterCard merchants in the U.S. and Canada and processed as MasterCard credit card transactions. When these cards are used outside of the United States or Canada, they will continue to be accepted and processed by Diners Club as they are today.