As of September 30, 2006, 145 million MasterCard branded cards had been issued in Europe, a 17% increase in comparison to the corresponding period the previous year. The number of transactions by MasterCard branded cards totaled 1.28 billion in Europe, a 9.6% rise.
As a global company with a pan-European heritage, we can truly understand, safeguard and maximize opportunities for our European customers, said Javier Perez, president of MasterCard Europe. With Maestro, we have a SEPA-compliant solution already in the market and our key focus now is on leveraging that position to support our customers, partners and regulators in delivering a truly borderless payments area for Europe.
MasterCard said third quarter product innovations helped to boost its returns. During the quarter MasterCard launched the first fully-fledged contactless payments program in Europe, using MasterCard’s OneSmart PayPass technology. In addition, the payments company continued to further its collaboration with mobile operator BASE in Belgium to introduce a co-branded card offering free minutes on mobile phone calls, in what was also the first example of a personalized credit card in the Belgian market.
