BANKING & FINANCE - Sept. 24, 1994

Discover Loses Battle to Issue Visa Cards: Visa doesn’t have to let competitors issue credit cards bearing its brand name under a decision handed down by a federal appeals court. The decision, issued by a three-judge panel in Denver, was a major blow to Dean Witter, Discover & Co., which had sued to gain entry into Visa’s consortium of card issuers. Membership in Visa would have given Dean Witter access to a much larger network of customers and merchant locations. Dean Witter’s Discover Card has a 6% share of the credit card market, a small position compared to Visa, which has 38%. The two companies have been battling in court for several years.