Diners Club in Canada | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

Loonie said
Diners Club was converted to a MasterCard some years ago. I imagine it was a good investment for BMO as they would have picked up tons of clients with good incomes  

Thanks, Loonie...I didn't realize that BMO converted Diners Club to the MasterCard payment network after their acquisition of it. Do you know if they happened to convert their U.S. Diners Club customers to, presumably, a BMO Harris Bank MasterCard?

Cheers,
Doug

Loonie said
BMO keeps this card hidden. I have the impression they want it to be a corporate card. Thus it never appears in comparisons.

I don't know anything about the US operation.  

Thanks again, Loonie, and no worries. Hrm, I just checked out the Diners Club International website and, perhaps this is my fault for relying on the mainstream media instead of going directly to the source and reading the press release, it appears that BMO doesn't own Diners Club at all. The news media, at the time, made it sound like BMO was buying all of Diners Club. I suspect what happened was they just acquired Diners Club's Canadian customers and rebranded it as a BMO Diners Club MasterCard.

From the looks of it, the U.S. and international Diners Club operations are owned by Discover Financial Services (https://www.dinersclub.com/).

Cheers,
Doug

Top It Up said
Before this thread gets anymore FALSE information embedded in it - the BMO purchase in 2010 was more than clear that the purchase was the North American franchise ONLY - sheesh.

BMO acquisition of Diners Club North American franchise provides clients with greater range of Card solutions and best-in-class acceptance.

https://www.bmo.com/spendandpayment/pdf/APEX_Summer10.pdf  

Thanks, Top It Up. To be clear, I never intended to provide any information that was false. I appreciate being corrected or receiving amended/new information, which I've relayed by way of my further reply.

I note, though, that you've highlighted "North American franchise," which seems not to be correct as the Diners Club International website is definitely still based in and targeted to U.S. clients. So it does seem like BMO acquired only the Canadian franchise of Diners Club (they don't appear to own the Diners Club International website, which is news to me and why I corrected my earlier post).

Cheers,
Doug

Top It Up said
Back away from the story while you still can -

From the Diners International website -

Banking products and services are provided by BMO Harris Bank N.A. and are subject to credit approval. BMO Harris® and BMO Harris Bank® are trade names used by BMO Harris Bank N.A. Member FDIC. Diners Club®, Diners Club International with Split Circle Device, Carte Blanche®, Club Rewards®, Club Cash®, Global Vision® and T+E Reconciler® are registered trademarks of Diners Club International Ltd. MasterCard® and the MasterCard® Brand Mark are registered trademarks of MasterCard International incorporated.  

Yes, I remember reading that, and to be clear, that was my understanding that they acquired the whole of Diners Club International, but why does Diners Club International still have a (current) Investor Relations website and say that they're part of Discover Financial Services? That's what's confusing to me.

Nevertheless, regardless of ownership, it seems it's clear that Diners Club is indeed still be offered independently outside of Canada (as an unlisted BMO Diners Club, thanks to Loonie's tip).

Cheers,
Doug

What have you got against Diners Club MC issued by BMO? That's the one Canadians would be applying for.

I was asking either of you as you both seemed negative.
We should not confuse the Cdn-issued version from BMO with whatever is issued in other countries.

I came by this information in the normal course of my affairs.
BMO used to have some good deals with Air Miles, but not now. I think I took home $1500 from that; can't remember exactly now. Gotta love free money!