MasterCard starts '09 with healthy growth

MANILA, Philippines - MasterCard Inc. recently announced strong first quarter 2009 results for the Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. For the quarter ending March 31, 2009, the region witnessed growth in gross dollar volume (16.1 percent), purchase volume (15 percent), purchase transactions (16.8 percent), cash transactions (28.9 percent) and cards issued (15 percent) versus the same period in 2008.

As of March 31, 2009, nearly 248 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customer financial institutions across APMEA. Cardholders in the region made more than 932 million purchase transactions in the first quarter of 2009 and could use their MasterCard cards at 28.8 million acceptance locations worldwide.

“Our performance in APMEA continues to be healthy. This can be attributed to the region’s customer-focused strategy and smart business planning in collaboration with customers. Our commercial rigor, accountability and efficient delivery are precisely qualities that our customers seek to help navigate these challenging economic times, said Andre Sekulic, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide.

For the quarter ending March 31, 2009, the Maestro brand mark appeared on over 194 million cards in APMEA. Consumers can now make debit point of sale purchases with their Maestro cards at nearly 922,000 merchant locations in APMEA.