The Diners Club Story

In 1949, businessman Frank McNamara was entertaining a group of dinner guests in a New York restaurant, only to discover that he had forgotten his wallet. Luckily, the restaurant owner knew him and agreed that he would pay his bill on another occasion. This embarrassing situation inspired McNamara to devise a card to prove the holder's identity and ability to pay. He launched the Diners Club Card, and within a year had a membership of 10,000 culled from the cream of New York society, with 28 restaurants and two hotels prepared to accept monthly billing in respect of this select clientele. Frank McNamara had laid the cornerstone for the world’s first-ever credit card organisation.

In the 1950s Diners Club was the first credit card organisation to introduce travel insurance. The 1960s saw the erstwhile paper card become plastic and captivate Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In the 1970s Diners Club introduced the first corporate card programme in the industry. A decade later it pioneered the first rewards programme. The Diners Club Card today is welcomed at more than 13 million establishments worldwide.

To see the timeline history of how Diners Club has pioneered card payments over the last 6o years, please click here.

Diners Club in Switzerland

The Diners Club Card was first launched in Switzerland in 1957, eight years after the founding of Diners Club. This made it the country’s first-ever credit card.

In the beginning of August 2010, longstanding managing director of Diners Club Switzerland and Germany, Anthony J. Helbling, has joined forces with a select group of investors to acquire the license for issuing Diners Club cards from the US-based Citi concern.

The Diners Club Card has made a name for itself as a credit card designed for individuals with aspirational lifestyles. The company is also known for its sporting sponsorships – it is a Swiss pioneer in sport arena branding with the Diners Club Arena inaugurated in Rapperswil in 2006.