Strong Finish to 2011 for MasterCard in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa Region

MasterCard Incorporated today announced fourth quarter and full-year results for the Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. For the quarter ending 31 December 2011, the region drove strong growth in gross dollar volume (21.8%), purchase volume (23.5%), purchase transactions (18.2%), cash transactions (18.4%) and cards issued (12.3%), versus the same period in 2010. Growth in gross dollar volume and purchase volume are calculated on a local currency basis.

As of 31 December 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.

For the year ended 31 December 2011, the APMEA region saw growth in gross dollar volume (22.9%), purchase volume (24.9%), purchase transactions (18.3%) and cash transactions (19.7%) versus 2010. For the quarter ending 31 December 2011, the Maestro® brand mark appeared on 237 million cards in APMEA. Consumers can now make debit point of sale purchases with their Maestro cards at 2.5 million merchant locations in APMEA.

“We had a strong fourth quarter and a successful 2011 driving momentum across all our markets in APMEA,” said Vicky Bindra, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard Worldwide. “This was driven by new deals with industry leaders to develop innovative payment solutions for the benefit of consumers including the roll out of the contactless Absa OneTouch card in South Africa, the OneSmart PayPass card with Air New Zealand, and an agreement with Etisalat and Research in Motion in the United Arab Emirates. As MasterCard moves into 2012, we have tremendous opportunities in the APMEA region and are well positioned for the future.”