MasterCard registers strong growth

MANILA, Philippines - The Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region of MasterCard Inc. reported growth in gross dollar volume (21.8 percent), purchase volume (23.5 percent), purchase transactions (18.2 percent), cash transactions (18.4 percent) and cards issued (12.3 percent), versus the same period in 2010. As of end 2011, 330 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customers in APMEA. Cardholders in the region made almost 1.6 billion purchase transactions in the fourth quarter of 2011 and cardholders could use their MasterCard cards at 33.3 million acceptance locations worldwide as of the end of the quarter. The APMEA region saw growth in gross dollar volume (22.9 percent), purchase volume (24.9 percent), purchase transactions (18.3 percent) and cash transactions (19.7 percent) versus 2010. The Maestro brand mark appeared on 237 million cards in APMEA.