Philippine banks snatch five MasterCard awards

The Philippines emerged as the most awarded country in Southeast Asia at the MasterCard Asia/Pacific 2002 marketing awards held during MasterCard International’s recently concluded 2002 annual meeting in Shanghai, China.

Overall in the Asia Pacific region, the Philippines placed second to Japan which garnered six honors and tied with China which also received five citations.

Awards were given to the following Philippine banks: Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), "Best E-Commerce Related Initiative" Gold Award for BPI eCredit Virtual MasterCard; Citibank, "Best Print Advertising" Gold Award for Citibank Clear MasterCard; 1st e-Bank/Smart Communications, "Best MasterCard Electronic Card" Silver Award for Smart Money MTV MasterCard Electronic Card" HSBC, "Best Ladies’ Card Program" Gold Award for HSBC Red MasterCard; and Metrobank, "Best Maestro/Cirrus Deposit Access Program" Gold Award for Metrobank E.T. International Cirrus/Maestro ATM Card.

The awards were handed to local and regional executives from the winning banks in gala ceremonies on the final night of the Meeting.

"The MasterCard Marketing Awards ceremony not only presents an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our successful payments program and to share best practices with our Members across the region, it is also our way of acknowledging our Members’ efforts in promoting the MasterCard brand. We are grateful to our Members for their support and will remain committed to working closely with our Members to develop stronger payments programs," commented Stuart McDonald, MasterCard International senior vice president for corporate Services in Asia/Pacific.

MasterCard presented a total of 45 Marketing Awards in 15 categories, and two special awards to its Member financial institutions from Asia/Pacific that have excelled in their respective card programs.

This is the seventh year MasterCard has presented marketing awards to its Member banks. Besides the marketing awards, MasterCard also presented awards to exhibitors who participated in The Future of Money Technology Fair.

The other award categories included Best Cardholder Promotion, Best Overall Marketing Program, Best Sponsorship Program, Best Co-Brand/Affinity Program, Best Television Advertising and Best Program Launch. Five new categories of awards were given out this year, including Best Chip Card Program, Best Commercial Card, Best Youth Program, Best Ladies’ Card Program and Best Pre-Paid Card.

In addition to the marketing awards, MasterCard also presented the "First MasterCard Integrated Product Messages (IPM) Implementation" award to Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad and the "Global Management Services" award to the Development Bank of Singapore Limited.

Two exhibitors who participated in The Future of Money Technology Fair were also recognized for their efforts and innovation. Fair Isaac received the Best Technology Fair Booth award and Hypercom won the Most Innovative Product award.

Senior MasterCard Executives formed the panel of judges for the awards. The next Marketing Awards will be held at MasterCard’s Asia/Pacific Annual Meeting in Thailand in April/May 2003.

MasterCard International has a comprehensive portfolio of well-known, widely accepted payment brands including MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro. More than 1.7 billion MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro logos are present on credit, charge and debit cards in circulation today.

An association comprised of more than 15,000 member financial institutions, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses, both large and small, in 210 countries and territories. It is a leader in quality and innovation, offering a wide range of payment solutions in the virtual and traditional worlds.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2001 gross dollar volume exceeded $986 billion.