On November 8, 2004, MasterCard and Diner's Club formed an alliance. Cards issued in Canada and the USA start with 55 and are treated as MasterCards worldwide. International cards use the 36 prefix and are treated as MasterCards in Canada and the US, but are treated as Diner's Club cards elsewhere. Diner's Club International's website makes no reference to old 38 prefix numbers, and they can be presumed reissued under the 55 or 36 BIN prefix.
Effective October 1, 2006, Discover will now be using the entire 65 prefix, not just 650. Also, similar to the MasterCard/Diner's agreement, China Union Pay cards are now treated as Discover cards and accepted on the Discover network.
A search on VISA's website results in many references to card numbers being 16 digits long. However, searching for references to 13-digit cards will turn up no results. It might be presumed that 13-digit cards no longer exist and have been reissued as 16-digit cards, however old accounts may still use these numbers.
Switch will continue to exist until mid 2007, after that it will branded as Maestro. Maestro is now VISA Electron's main competitor in the European debit card market