Discover is making plans to enter the lucrative debit card market. Already worth up to $9 billion by analysts' estimates, the credit card issuer likely would need to expand its current work force of 15,000 - particularly in its existing call centers in Utah, Arizona, Ohio and Delaware.

In Utah, where nearly 30 percent of the company's employees work, Discover operates customer service centers in Sandy and West Valley City.

Discover spokeswoman Bet Metzler said it was too early for the company to discuss specifics of its possible expansion plans, but she did note Discover already has laid the groundwork for debit card business with its acquisition last November of Pulse EFT Association.

Discover says that $311 million deal offered an entry into the debit card market, immediately giving it a 4,100-bank, 1 million-merchant strong debit and credit transactions entity - good enough to make Discover No. 3 in so-called PIN (personal identification number) debit services.

Already boasting more than 50 million card holders, Discover has made no secret of its plans to challenge Visa, Mastercard and others for a big piece of the debit transaction pie.

While Metzler could not confirm much on Friday, she did put one rumor to rest. Discover is not moving its headquarters to Utah. "Our headquarters operations are here in Riverwoods [Ill.], and Discover has no plans to change that at this time," she said.

In cutting Discover Financial Services Inc. loose earlier this week, Morgan Stanley shed a subsidiary that some observers believed was never a good match for the primarily Wall Street investment banking, asset and securities management company.

In announcing the spinoff Monday, Philip Purcell - a native Utahn and embattled chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley - pitched the decision to make the credit card company a stand-alone business as a means to maximize shareholders' value.

Purcell added that the spinoff should be completed in three to six months. Morgan Stanley acquired Discover in 1997 as part of its merger with Dean Witter.

bmims@sltrib.com