Citicorp Diners Club Inc. history

The bank grew as New York City became the nation’s commercial and financial capital, and in 1865 it was chartered under the National Bank Act and renamed the National City Bank of New York. Thus, on June 16, 1812, some of the First Bank’s New York shareholders and other investors secured state incorporation of the City Bank of New York, which was later established in the branch banking rooms of the old First Bank.

The Travelers Insurance Company was founded in 1864 by James Batterson, a stonecutter.

The bank grew as New York City became the nation’s commercial and financial capital, and in 1865 it was chartered under the National Bank Act and renamed the National City Bank of New York.

Created through the consolidation of several producers of metal cans for the food industry, American Can monopolized 90 percent of the nation’s can-making capacity when it was founded in 1901.

1928: Charga-plates were invented.

1934: American Airlines released Air Travel Cards with individual numbers, allowing customers to book flights on credit.

1950: Diners Club released the first charge card that could be used at multiple merchants.

By 1951, Diners Club had roughly 42,000 members and had begun charging a $5 annual fee.

Introduction of revolving balances and general-purpose use: BankAmericard introduced the concept of carrying a balance from month to month in 1958.

Invention of plastic credit cards: American Express was the first issuer to offer a plastic card, beginning in 1959.

Travelers introduced its logo—a red umbrella to symbolize protection—in 1960.

Diners Club offered its first plastic credit card in 1961 and surpassed 1 million members in the early 60’s.

The peak of its media saturation probably came in 1963, when Columbia Pictures released The Man from the Diner's Club, a slapstick comedy starring Danny Kaye and Telly Savalas.

In 1965 the company was renamed The Travelers Corporation.

Then, in 1966, they upped the ante even further by offering the BankAmericard nationally as the first general-purpose credit card.

In 1967 the bank was reorganized under a holding company—the assets of which included the First National City Bank of New York and a finance company, a traveler’s check company, and other related financial operations.

"Venturesome Trip," Time, February 23, 1968.

BankAmericard persevered, however, expanding nationally through a series of licensing agreements and continuing the practice of mailing unrequested cards to consumers until it was banned in 1970.

Always oriented toward the high end of the market, Carte Blanche shaped the development of the industry when it introduced its Gold Club card in 1972.

The first credit cards that used electronic swipe machines didn't appear until 1975.

Diners Club revenues were $78 million in 1977.

Citibank, the financial services giant, already owned a handful of other cards, including Carte Blanche, which it had acquired in 1978.

Citicorp bought The Diners' Club, Inc., in 1981.

It was renamed Citicorp Diners Club, Inc., in 1983, and three years later it became Diners Club International Ltd., while a new Delaware corporation was formed with the name Citicorp Diners Club Inc.

Discover joined the game relatively late in 1985.

Simmons, Matty, The Credit Card Catastrophe: The 20th Century Phenomenon That Changed the World, New York: Barricade Books, 1995.

Under the direction of chief executive officer Sanford I.Weill, Primerica renamed itself Travelers Group and in 1996 bought the casualty and property insurance businesses of the Aetna Life and Casualty Company.

In 1998 Travelers merged with Citicorp to form Citigroup.

In 1999, there were around 365 million credit card accounts open.

Diners Club relaunched Carte Blanche in 2000 as a prestige card.

The new financial services conglomerate came under Weill’s leadership and assumed the red umbrella logo, retaining it even after spinning off, in 2002, the property and casualty insurance business to form a new, publicly traded firm called Travelers Property Casualty Corp.

In 2004, Diners Club began an alliance with MasterCard International, greatly increasing the number of places its cards could be used.

Contactless payments: Since 2008, some credit cards have offered the ability to make contactless payments, without the need to insert a card into a reader.

In January 2009 Citigroup announced plans to split the firm into two new companies, Citicorp and Citi Holdings.

Around 1.6% of all United States payment volume was on EMV cards in 2015, compared to 99% today.

In 2017, United States consumers hit $1 trillion in credit card debt for the first time, and despite some payoffs, we’ve stayed close to that number ever since.

As of 2020, around 67% of merchants accept contactless payments.