, formerly Japan Credit Bureau, is a credit card company based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan.

History

Japan Credit Bureau was founded in 1961 by

Sanwa Bank The was a major Japanese bank headquartered in Osaka, which operated from 1933 to 2002. It resulted from the merger of three local banks, (est. 1877 as 13th National Bank), (est. 1878), and (est. 1879 as 148th National Bank). In 2002, Sanwa ...

(now

MUFG Bank is a Japanese bank and the core banking subsidiary of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). It was established on January 1, 2006 through the merger of the and , two major banking groups that themselves were the product of recent banking ...

) and Nippon Shinpan (now

Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd., formerly named Nippon Shinpan, is a Japanese company. It was established in 1951 and became Japan's first and largest credit company during the post-World War Japanese economic boom. Now part with Mitsubishi UFJ F ...

), as the country's second credit card issuer and payment network after the Japanese branch of

Diners Club International Diners Club International Ltd. (DCI), founded as Diners Club, is a charge card company owned by Capital One. Formed in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara, Ralph Schneider (1909–1964), Matty Simmons, and Alfred S. Bloomingdale, it was the first independe ...

. JCB firmly established itself in the Japanese credit card market after purchasing, and then absorbing, Hokkaido Credit Bureau and Osaka Credit Bureau in 1968. its cards are issued to 130 million customers in 23 countries. JCB also operates a network of membership airport lounges for holders of their Platinum Cards issued outside Japan. JCB cards are issued in 24 countries. In most of these, JCB is affiliated with financial institutions to issue JCB-branded cards. In the United States, JCB is not a primary credit card network such as

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

or MasterCard. While the brand was primarily accepted by tourism-related businesses such as airlines and car rental companies, it gained wider acceptance in 2006 when JCB announced an alliance with Discover Network. The two companies signed a long-term agreement that led to the acceptance of Discover Network brand cards at JCB point-of-sale terminals in Japan and of JCB cards on the Discover network in the U.S. This partnership became operational in 2011. Local JCB accounts in the United States were issued by JCB USA, and offered to residents of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. JCB USA stopped issuing JCB cards in the American market on January 8, 2018, and closed all current consumer credit card accounts on April 30, 2018. Foreign JCB cards continue to work through the Discover network partnership.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Credit cards Credit card issuer associations Financial services companies based in Tokyo Financial services companies established in 1961 Midori-kai 1961 establishments in Japan