Credit cards originated in the 1920s when companies issued metal cards to customers for purchases. Diners Club introduced the first general-purpose credit card in 1950 that could be used at multiple merchants. In the late 1950s and 1960s, other cards like American Express and BankAmericard (later Visa) launched and the credit card industry grew rapidly. Regulation of the industry became necessary as processing became too large for individual banks to handle alone.