Eurocard was a credit card, introduced in 1964 by Marcus Wallenberg Jr. of the

Wallenberg family The Wallenberg family is a prominent Swedish family of bankers, industrialists, politicians, bureaucrats and diplomats, present in most large Swedish industrial groups, including EQT AB, Ericsson, Electrolux, ABB, SAS Group, SKF, Atlas Copco, ...

as an alternative to

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

. In 1968, it signed a deal with the Interbank Card Association (today's MasterCard) so that their cards were accepted by each other's networks; this eventually led to a joint venture known as Maestro International in 1992, and merger in 2002. Its operations were relocated to Belgium in the end of the 1960s, and the card became the dominant brand in North and Central Europe between 1970 and 2002. It was eventually replaced by the Mastercard brand in most locations, but its logo is still used in some countries.

History

In 1965, Eurocard International N.V. was established, based in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, as a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

membership association of European

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s. Its operational entity was established as European Payment System Services (EPSS). In 1968, Eurocard International and the Interbank Card Association entered into a

strategic alliance A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more Legal party, parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims for a synergy wh ...

, in which both issuer's cards would be accepted on either network. This allowed the ICA to get an instant European acceptance network, and Eurocard to get accepted worldwide. Eurocard International got the sole license to issue the ICA's Master Charge (later MasterCard) cards in Europe. In 1992, Eurocard International N.V.,

Eurocheque The Eurocheque was a type of cheque used in Europe that was accepted across national borders and which could be written in a variety of currencies. Eurocheques were introduced in 1969 as an alternative to the traveller's cheque and for internatio ...

International C.V. and Eurocheque International Holding N.V. merged into a single company,

Europay International Europay International was a financial company. It was created by the merger of Eurocard International and Eurocheque International and was headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, on the same premises as EPSS (European Payment Systems Services) an ...

S.A., and were relocated to

Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo (; ; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in Wallonia, located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of . Waterloo lies a short distance south of Brussels, and immedia ...

. This location also housed the Europe, Middle East and Africa region of MasterCard International, and the seat of the joint venture of Eurocard MasterCard, Maestro International. In 2002, Europay International and MasterCard International merged. The name Europay disappeared, and the new organisation was later renamed MasterCard Worldwide, with the headquarters in Waterloo renamed MasterCard Europe. In 2008, Eurocard was taken over by the Swedish

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (; lit. "Scandinavian Private Bank"), abbreviated SEB, is a Swedish bank headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. In Sweden and the Baltic countries, SEB has a full financial service offering. In Denmark, Finland, Nor ...

. Eurocard has always been the dominant brand in Central European countries, more specifically in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It lagged behind Visa in southern European countries, such as

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.EUR-Lex - 52002XC0413(02) - EN
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Acceptance mark

Today, the Eurocard name exists in combination with the MasterCard acceptance mark as a product name. This means that the Eurocard name is still used on a card, although only the MasterCard logo is displayed at locations which accept MasterCard cards. The Eurocard logo is not used any more, as the acceptance mark is discontinued and merged into MasterCard. However, the use of Eurocard as a brand for MasterCard credit cards is limited to Scandinavian countries and the Baltic countries. In other former Eurocard markets, such as the German speaking countries, this brand was fully replaced by the MasterCard brand.

References

External links

Eurocard International website
{{Credit cards Companies related to the Wallenberg family Credit cards Credit card issuer associations 1964 establishments in Sweden 1964 establishments in Europe Organizations established in 1965 1965 establishments in Belgium 1992 mergers and acquisitions 2002 mergers and acquisitions 2008 mergers and acquisitions Products and services discontinued in 2002