December 12, 1882
- Marcellus Flemming Berry, of Brooklyn, NY, received a patent for a
"Check or Other Paper Representing Value" ("novel formation of or
arrangement of the figures in [marginal] tables [of figures of different
denominations], whereby the tearing through the tables is facilitated
and a check or paper is produced which may be more conveniently used and
which will afford greater security against fraud"); 1891 - American
Express travelers cheque, oblong blue checks created by Berry in lieu of
letters of credit (at request of James Congdell Fargo, president of
American Express, younger brother of William Fargo), launched.
July 1891 - American Express
launched Travelers Cheques; company placed ads in New York newspapers,
printed 70,000 leaflets for European business.; as many as 10,000
circulars about travelers cheques sent to agents, with special attention
to Thomas Cook & Son, European travel agency with worldwide network of
150 offices; August 5, 1891 - Hotel Hauffe, Leipzig,
Germany, honored first American Express Travelers Cheque. .
February 22, 1908
- Henry Ittleson, former dry goods retailer, law student, real estate
agent, stockbroker, founded CIT Corporation; May 1908 - 22
businesses as clients (including Monsanto); 1916 - joined
with Studebaker automobile company (4,000 dealerships) to provide
financing to car buyers (put one-third down, paid balance in eight
monthly installments); 1924 - went public; 1925
- business volume exceeded $148 million, recorded capital in excess of
$26 million; 1926 - record profits of $3.5 million;
1928 - entered factoring market (Commercial Factors Corporation
subsidiary nation’s largest factoring business in 1929); 1965
- $100 billion in financing volume since 1908 (half since 1955);
1969 - withdrew from auto financing, turned to personal, home
equity loans, equipment leasing; 1971 - record-high
earnings for 20th consecutive year; 1977 - more than 1,000
consumer finance offices; 1980 -- acquired by RCA
Corporation; 1984 - acquired by Manufacturers Hanover
Trust Corporation ($8 billion in factoring business volume, largest
factoring unit in world); 1989 - 60% majority interest in
CIT acquired by Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Limited of Japan (DKB); 1997
- went public, earnings above $300 million for first time in its
history; 2007 - 1 million clients across 30 industries in
50 countries.
February 1950
- Frank McNamara, lawyer Ralph Schneider created Diners
Club; presented small, cardboard card at Major's Cabin Grill, New York
City restaurant; signed for the purchase; known as the "First Supper";
May 13, 1950 - Diner's Club issued first credit cards to
200 people, most of whom are personal friends and acquaintances; 14 New
York restaurants agree to accept the card; 1949 - had had
dinner, left wallet in another suit; wife paid, resolved never to be
embarrassed again.
1951 -
Donald McCullough launched Finders Services, first credit card service
in Britain; 1962 - merged Credit Card Services to become
Diners' Club.
1958 – Bank of America launched
BankAmericard in Fresno, CA (innovative "revolving credit" feature);
1970 - Visa incorporated in Delaware as National
BankAmericard Inc. (NBI); 1974 - International Bankcard
Company (IBANCO) formed to administer BankAmericard program
internationally; 1976 - BankAmericard changed name to
Visa; 1983 - launched global ATM network, provided 24-hour
cash access to cardholders around world; 1997 - annual
global sales volume reached $ trillion; 2001 - annual
global sales volume reached $2 trillion; 2004 - global
debit volume surpassed credit volume; 2007- completed
corporate restructuring, created new global corporation, Visa Inc.;
nation's largest electronic-payments
processor; March 18, 2008 - went public in largest IPO in
history ($17.9 billion).
October 1, 1958
- American Express introduced travel-and-entertainment charge card
(paper printed with purple ink to resemble Travelers Cheques; 1959
- introduced plastic cards; 1966 - launched Gold Card;
2007 - 52 million card holders.
September 10, 1963
- American Express opened credit card service in Britain (previously, card holders could only
settle their accounts in dollars).
1966 -
Yasuo Takei founded Takefufi Corporation, consumer credit company.
June 2006 - Forbes.com ranked Takei second richest man in
Japan, worht $5.6 billion (behind Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, worth
$7 billion).
September 12, 1997
- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced that annualized
losses on bank credit cards had ballooned to highest level in 14 years;
losses accounted for 5.22% of every $100 charged to nation's credit
cards; Americans also declaring bankruptcy in record numbers (amounted
to roughly half of "bank credit card charge-offs"); painted "a picture
of highly leveraged consumers less able to handle their debts--and more
willing than ever to walk away from them."
April 16, 2007
- SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae), nations largest lender to students ($142
billion loan portfolio), agreed to a $25 billion buyout from two private
equity firms and two banks; largest deal ever for financial services
firm.
(Advest Group Inc.), Donald Moffitt (1997).
Advest: Celebrating a Century of Service to Investors, 1898-1998.
(Lyme, CT: Greenwich Pub. Group, 63 p.). Advest Group, Inc.--History;
Financial services industry--United States--History.
(American Express), Alden Hatch (1950).
American Express, A Century
of Service. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 287 p.). American Express
Company.
(American Express), Peter Z. Grossman (1987).
American Express:
The Unofficial History of the People Who Built the Great Financial
Empire. (New York, Y: Crown Publishers, 389 p.). American Express
Company--History.
(American Express), Bryan Burrough (1992).
Vendetta: American
Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra. (New York, NY:
HarperCollins, 494 p.). Safra, Edmond; Republic National Bank of New
York--Management; American Express Company; Money laundering
investigation--United States.
(American Express), Jon Friedman and John Meehan (1992).
House of
Cards: Inside the Troubled Empire of American Express. (New York,
NY: Putnam, 272 p.). American Express Company; Financial services
industry--United States; Credit cards--United States.
(American Express), Reed Massengill (1999).
Becoming American Express: 150 Years of Reinvention and Customer Service.
(New York, NY: American Express Co., 200 p.). American Express Company
-- History; Financial services industry -- History.
(American Express), Aldo Papone (2005).
The Power of the Obvious: Notes from 50 Years in Corporate America.
(Los Altos, CA: Palo Alto Press, 189 p.). President and Chief Operating
Officer, American Express TRS. Papone, Aldo; wisdom -- business;
business philosophy. Author captures what really counts in business -
things we all once knew but need to be reminded of.
(Canada Trustco), Philip Smith (1989).
The Trust-Builders: The
Remarkable Rise of Canada Trust. (Toronto, ON: Macmillan of Canada,
275 p.). Canada Trustco Mortgage Company -- History; Trust companies --
Ontario -- London -- History.
(C.I.T. Financial), William L. Wilson (1976).
Full Faith and
Credit: The Story of C.I.T. Financial Corporation, 1908-1975. (New
York, NY: Random House, 376 p.). C.I.T. Financial Corporation--History.
(John Hancock Financial Services), David F. D'Alessandro, with
Michele Owens (2001).
Brand Warfare: 10 Rules for Building the Killer
Brand: Lessons for New and Old Economy Players. (New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill, 185 p.). CEO, John Hancock Financial Services. Brand name
products; Product management.
(Household Finance), Herman Kogan (1965). Lending Is Our Business;
The Story of Household Finance Corporation. (Chicago, IL: Household
Finance Corp., 147 p.). Household Finance Corporation.
(Lomas), William R. Simon, pictorial research by James A. Ledbetter
(1994).
Lomas, The First One Hundred Years: A History of the Lomas
Financial Group. (Dallas, TX: Lomas Financial Corp., 502 p.). Lomas
Mortgage USA--History; Mortgage banks--United States--History; Lomas
Financial Corporation--History; Financial institutions--United
States--History.
(National Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand Ltd.), Gordon
Parry (1964). N.M.A.: The Story of the first 100 Years: The National
Mortgage and Agency Company of New Zealand Ltd., 1864-1964. (London,
UK: The Company, 247 p.). National Mortgage and Agency Company of New
Zealand Ltd.--History.
(Provident Loan Society of New York), Peter Schwed (1975).
God Bless Pawnbrokers. (New York, NY: Dodd, Mead, 217 p.).
Provident Loan Society of New York.
(SBI Holdings, Inc.), Yoshitaka Kitao (2007).
The SBI Group Vision and Strategy: Continuously Evolving Management.
(Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 164 p.). CEO of SBI Holdings, Inc. (former finance
arm of Softbank Corp.). SBI Group--History; Financial
institutions--Japan--History--20th century; Financial
institutions--Management; Information technology--Economic
aspects--Japan. July 1999 - founded SBI as venture capital, incubation business; transformed it
to independent holding company; steered it through Internet bubble,
Financial Big Bang of Japanese deregulation; vision - customer value, shareholder value, human capital
value combine to create prosperity for individuals and society.
(Simpson Inc.), William R. Simpson and Florence K. Simpson, with
Charles Samuels (1954).
Hockshop: The Fabulous Story of the Emperors
of Pawnbroking. (New York, NY: Random House, 311 p.). Simpson
(William) inc.--New York (State).
(UAPT-Infolink), C. McNeil Greig (1992).
The Growth of Credit
Information: A History of UAPT-Infolink Plc. (Cambridge, MA:
Blackwsell Business, 354 p.). UAPT-Infolink (Firm)--History; Credit
bureaus--Great Britain--History--19th century; Credit bureaus--Great
Britain--History--20th century; Commercial credit--Great
Britain--History--19th century; Commercial credit--Great
Britain--History--20th century.
(Union Discount Company), George and Pamela Cleaver (1985).
The Union Discount: A Centenary Album. (London, UK: Union
Discount Company, 128 p.). Union Discount Company; discount houses --
Great Britain -- history.
(VISA International), Dee Hock (1999).
Birth of the Chaordic
Age (San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 345 p.). Hock, Dee,
1929- ; Hock, Dee; VISA International--History; VISA International;
Businessmen--United States--Biography; Bank credit cards--History; Consumer
finance companies--History.
(VISA International), Paul Chutkow (2001).
Visa: The Power of an Idea. (Chicago, IL: Harcourt, 363 p.).
VISA International--History; Bank credit cards--History; Consumer
credit--History.
(VISA International), Patricia Kapferer et Tristan Gaston-Breton;
preface de Michel Pebereau (2004). Carte Bleue: La Petite Carte Qui
Change la Vie. (Paris, FR: Cherche Midi, 125 p.). VISA
International; Bank credit cards; Bank credit cards--France.
Eds. Eric Bussiere, Youssef Cassis (2005).
London and Paris as International Financial Centres in the Twentieth
Century. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 367 p.).
Professor of Contemporary European History (University of Paris IV);
Professor of Contemporary Economic History (University of Grenoble II).
Financial institutions, International--England--London; Financial
institutions, International--France--Paris; Banks and banking,
International--England--London; Banks and banking,
International--France--Paris; International finance.
Long-term perspective on development of each
centre, with special attention to pre-1914 years and to last decades of
20th century (contrasts these two eras of globalization).
Alya Guseva (2008).
Into the Red: The Birth of the Credit Card Market in Postcommunist
Russia. (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 224 p.).
Assistant Professor of Sociology (Boston University). Credit cards
--Russia (Federation); Consumer credit --Russia (Federation).
1988-2007
- emergence of credit card market in post-Soviet Russia; dynamics of market building in social structure,
creative use of social networks in facilitating exchange in
mass markets, building markets for mass
consumption.
ed. Clifford E. Kirsch (1997).
The Financial Services Revolution:
Understanding the Changing Role of Banks, Mutual Funds, and Insurance
Companies (Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Pub., 565 p.). Financial
services industry--Government policy--United States; Banks and
banking--Government policy--United States; Insurance--Government
policy--United States; Mutual funds--Government policy--United States;
Financial services industry--Law and legislation--United States; Banking
law--United States; Insurance law--United States; Mutual funds--Law and
legislation--United States.
