Bankcard (Australia)
Bankcard was founded in 1974 as an association of Australian banking institutions. These institutes issued a credit card under the name Bankcard , which was only accepted in Australia and New Zealand , as well as on the Cook Islands and Lord Howe Island . In 2004 there were 2.3 million bank cards in circulation that were accepted by 350,000 merchants. Annual Bankcard sales were 5.5 billion Australian dollars .
On February 2, 2006, the banks belonging to the Bankcard Association decided to withdraw all bank cards by the end of the year and replace them with VISA or Mastercard cards. At that time, the National Australia Bank was the only remaining bank that still issued bank cards. All other banks stopped issuing cards in the course of 2005. Bankcards were accepted by all credit card-accepting merchants until the end of 2006 due to the uniform retailer payment system in Australia.
In the course of the changeover, all banks withdrew their cards in 2006. Bankcards were no longer accepted in New Zealand in mid-October 2005, which accelerated the changeover even further.