MasterCard
Encyclopedia
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 financial services
Financial services
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry. The finance industry encompasses a broad range of organizations that deal with the management of money. Among these organizations are credit unions, banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, consumer finance companies,...

 corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters
MasterCard International Global Headquarters
The MasterCard International Global Headquarters is an office building located at 2000 Purchase Street in the town of Harrison, New York that was constructed in the early 1980s as part of a movement of large corporations to suburban estate settings and has been called the "architectural jewel of...

, Purchase
Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...

, Harrison
Harrison, New York
Harrison is a village and town in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately northeast of Manhattan. The population was 27,472 at the 2010 census.-Establishment:...

, New York, United States. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the card issuing banks or credit unions of the purchasers who use the "MasterCard" brand debit
Debit card
A debit card is a plastic card that provides the cardholder electronic access to his or her bank account/s at a financial institution...

 and credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...

s to make purchases. MasterCard Worldwide has been a publicly traded company since 2006. The company was created by two entrepreneurs in Louisville, Ky. named Raymond Tanenhaus and Stanley Benovitz. It was absorbed by the United California Bank in year 1966. Prior to its initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

, MasterCard Worldwide was a cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 owned by the 25,000+ financial institution
Financial institution
In financial economics, a financial institution is an institution that provides financial services for its clients or members. Probably the most important financial service provided by financial institutions is acting as financial intermediaries...

s that issue its card.

MasterCard, originally known as Master Charge, was created by several California banks as a competitor to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

, which later became the Visa credit card issued by Visa Inc. The original banks behind MasterCharge were United California Bank (later First Interstate Bank
First Interstate BancSystem
First Interstate BancSystem, Inc., a financial holding company, and its primary banking subsidiary First Interstate Bank are based in Billings, Montana, USA....

 and subsequently merged into Wells Fargo Bank
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...

), Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...

, Crocker National Bank
Crocker National Bank
Crocker National Bank was a United States bank headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was acquired by and merged into Wells Fargo Bank in 1986.-History:The bank traces its history to the Woolworth National Bank in San Francisco...

 (also subsequently merged into Wells Fargo), and the Bank of California
Bank of California
The Bank of California was opened in San Francisco, California, on July 4, 1864, by William Chapman Ralston. It was the first commercial bank in the Western United States, the second-richest bank in the nation, and considered instrumental in developing the American Old West.-History:The ancestor of...

 (subsequently merged into the Union Bank of California
Union Bank of California
Union Bank, N.A., formerly known as Union Bank of California, N.A., is a full-service commercial bank providing an array of financial services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations...

).

History

In 1966 the aforementioned group of California banks formed the Interbank Card Association (ICA). With the help of New York's Marine Midland Bank
Marine Midland Bank
Marine Midland Bank was a bank formerly headquartered in Buffalo with several hundred branches throughout the state of New York. Marine Midland began in 1850 in Buffalo as the Marine Trust Company with the objective of financing the new shipping trade on the Great Lakes...

, now HSBC Bank USA
HSBC Bank USA
HSBC Bank USA, National Association, the American subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in McLean, Virginia . HSBC Bank USA, N.A...

, these banks joined with the ICA to create "Master Charge: The Interbank Card". The card was given a significant boost in 1969, when First National City Bank
Citibank
Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

 joined, merging its proprietary Everything Card
The Everything Card
The First National City Charge Service, marketed as The Everything Card, was an early credit card introduced by First National City Bank in the eastern United States in 1967. It was intended as a response to the BankAmericard , issued by BankAmerica.Issued under the initiative of National City...

 with Master Charge.

In 1979, "Master Charge: The Interbank Card" was renamed simply "MasterCard". In the early 1990s MasterCard bought the British Access card
Access (credit card)
Access was a credit card brand originally introduced in the United Kingdom in 1972 by a consortium of National Westminster Bank, Midland Bank , Lloyds Bank , and The Royal Bank of Scotland, as a rival to the established Barclaycard...

 and the Access name was dropped. In 2002, MasterCard International merged with Europay International SA
Europay International
Europay International was the name of the entity created by the merger of Eurocard International, and Eurocheque International. The merged entity was headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, on the same premises as EPSS and MasterCard EMEA .Europay International was the owner of the...

, another large credit-card issuer association, which for many years issued cards under the name Eurocard.

In 2006, MasterCard International underwent another name change to MasterCard Worldwide. This was done in order to suggest a more global scale of operations. In addition, the company introduced a new corporate logo adding a third circle to the two that had been used in the past (the familiar card logo, resembling a Venn diagram
Venn diagram
Venn diagrams or set diagrams are diagrams that show all possible logical relations between a finite collection of sets . Venn diagrams were conceived around 1880 by John Venn...

, remains unchanged). A new corporate tagline was introduced at the same time: "The Heart of Commerce".

IPO

The company, which had been organized as a cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...

 of banks, had an initial public offering on May 25, 2006 at $39.00 USD. The stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol MA.

Litigation

Both MasterCard and Visa have paid approximately $3 billion in damages resulting from a class-action lawsuit filed by Hagens Berman in January 1996. The litigation cites several retail giants as plaintiffs, including Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, Sears Roebuck & Company
Sears Holdings Corporation
Sears Holdings Corporation is a retail conglomerate formed in 2005 by the merger of Sears, Roebuck and Co., of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, with Kmart Holdings Corporation, of Troy, Michigan...

, and Safeway
Safeway Inc.
Safeway Inc. , a Fortune 500 company, is North America's second largest supermarket chain after The Kroger Co., with, as of December 2010, 1,694 stores located throughout the western and central United States and western Canada. It also operates some stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Eastern...

.

In October 2010, Visa and MasterCard reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in another antitrust case. The companies agreed to allow merchants displaying their logos to decline certain types of cards (because interchange fee
Interchange fee
Interchange fee is a term used in the payment card industry to describe a fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card based transactions. Usually it is a fee that a merchant's bank pays a customer's bank however there are instances where the interchange fee is paid from the issuer to...

s differ), or to offer consumers discounts for using cheaper cards.

Criticism

The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 has repeatedly expressed concern over the dominance of Mastercard. In April 2009, Mastercard reached a settlement with the European Union in an antitrust case, promising to reduce debit card payments to 0.2 percent of a purchase. In December 2010, a senior official from the European Central Bank called for a break-up of the Visa/Mastercard duopoly by creation of a new European debit card for use in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). After Mastercard's blocking of payments to WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...

, members of European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 expressed concern that payments from European citizens to a European corporation could apparently be blocked by America, and called for a further reduction in the dominance of Visa and Mastercard in the European payment system.

WikiLeaks published documents showing that American authorities lobbied Russia to defend the interests of Visa and MasterCard.

In December 2010, MasterCard blocked all payments to WikiLeaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...

 due to claims that they engage in illegal activity. In a response a group of online activists calling themselves "Anonymous" organised a denial-of-service attack
Denial-of-service attack
A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...

, as a result the MasterCard website experienced downtime
Downtime
The term downtime is used to refer to periods when a system is unavailable.Downtime or outage duration refers to a period of time that a system fails to provide or perform its primary function...

 on December 8–9, 2010.
Wikileaks spokesman said: “We neither condemn nor applaud these attacks." U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is a United Nations agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948...

, Navi Pillay said that closing down credit lines for donations to WikiLeaks "could be interpreted as an attempt to censor the publication of information, thus potentially violating WikiLeaks' right to freedom of expression". The company that enables Wikileaks to accept credit and debit card donations says it will take legal action against Visa Europe and Mastercard. IT firm Datacell said it would move immediately to try to force the two companies to resume allowing payments to the anti-secrecy website. Iceland-based Datacell had earlier said that suspension of payments towards Wikileaks is a violation of the agreements with their customers. Visa Europe and Mastercard have yet to comment on the legal threat. In view of MasterCard's stand on WikiLeaks crisis, MasterCard has been mocked widely across the internet as users lampooned its distinctive advertising slogans: "Freedom of speech: priceless. For everything else, there's MasterCard".

Advertising

MasterCard's current advertising campaign tagline is "Priceless". The slogan associated with the campaign is "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard." The Priceless campaign in more recent iterations has been applicable to both MasterCard's credit card and debit card
Debit card
A debit card is a plastic card that provides the cardholder electronic access to his or her bank account/s at a financial institution...

 products. They also use the 'Priceless' description to promote products such as their "priceless travel" site which features deals and offers for MasterCard holders, and "priceless cities", offers for people in specified locations.

The first of these Priceless ads was run during the World Series in 1997 and there are numerous different TV, radio and print ads. It was idealized by Stewart Emery. MasterCard registered Priceless as a trademark. Actor Billy Crudup
Billy Crudup
William Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...

 has been the voice in the US market; in the UK, actor Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport
Jack Davenport is an English actor, best known for his roles in the television series This Life, Coupling and as James Norrington in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. He has also appeared in many other Hollywood films such as The Talented Mr. Ripley...

 is the voice. The original idea and concept of the campaign stems from copywriter Joyce King Thomas and art director Jeroen Bours from the Advertising Agency of McCann Erickson (so called in 1997, today named: McCann Worldwide).

The purpose of the campaign is to position MasterCard as a friendly credit card company with a sense of humor, as well as respond to the public's worry that everything is being commodified and that people are becoming too materialistic.

Many parodies have been made using this same pattern, especially on Comedy Central, though MasterCard has threatened legal action, contending that MasterCard views such parodies as a violation of its rights under the federal and state trademark and unfair competition laws, under the federal and state anti-dilution
Trademark dilution
Trademark dilution is a trademark law concept giving the owner of a famous trademark standing to forbid others from using that mark in a way that would lessen its uniqueness. In most cases, trademark dilution involves an unauthorized use of another's trademark on products that do not compete with,...

 laws, and under the Copyright Act. Despite these claims, however, noted US consumer advocate and presidential candidate Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

 emerged victorious (after a four-year battle) in the suit MasterCard brought against him after he produced his own "Priceless" political commercials. In the election ads Nader had criticized the corporate financing of both the Bush and Gore campaigns. Using the theme and some of the language behind the MasterCard "Priceless" campaign the election specified the dollar amounts contributed by corporate interests to both candidates and then summed it up with "finding out the truth ... priceless." Mastercard sued Nader's campaign committee and filed a temporary restraining order to stop the ads. The TRO was not granted and Nader defended the ads by claiming they were protected under the fair use doctrine. Mastercard ultimately lost to Nader making "Priceless" very expensive indeed. http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek/2004/03/nader_wins_pric.html

MasterCard MarketPlace

Through a new partnership with an Internet company that specializes in personalized shopping, MasterCard introduced a Web shopping mall on April 16, 2010 that it says can pinpoint with considerable accuracy what its cardholders are likely to purchase.

The MasterCard MarketPlace site relies on technology developed by Next Jump
Next Jump
Next Jump is an e-commerce company. The company handles loyalty programs for Dell, AARP, Borders and Hilton Hotel.Headquartered in New York City, the company has over 28,000 merchant partners, both retailers and manufacturers...

, a company that monitors customer behavior from thousands of retailers and uses the data it gathers to help merchants tailor their product offerings.

Sports sponsorships

Mastercard engages in the sponorship of major sporting events throughout the world. These include the New Zealand All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 the country's rugby team, the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

, the PGA Tour's
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

 Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard, the Canadian Hockey League's
Canadian Hockey League
The Canadian Hockey League is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canadian-based major junior ice hockey leagues for players 16 to 20 years of age. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three member leagues, the Western Hockey...

 Memorial Cup
Memorial Cup
The Memorial Cup is a junior ice hockey club championship trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Hockey League champion. It is awarded following a four-team, round robin tournament between a host team and the champions of the CHL's three member leagues: the Ontario Hockey League , Quebec Major...

 and recently announced a new sponsorship deal with Australian Cricket team and is also the founding sponsor of IPL
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India , headquartered in Mumbai, and is supervised by BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla, who serves as the league's Chairman and Commissioner...

 cricket team Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians , is a franchise cricket team representing Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team is one of the eight founding members of the IPL in 2008. Mumbai Indians are currently led by Sachin Tendulkar, who is the Icon Player for the team and is coached by Robin Singh...

.

Previously it also sponsored FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 but withdrew its contract after a court settlement and its rival Visa took up the contract in 2007. and in , MasterCard was the main sponsor of the aborted MasterCard Lola
MasterCard Lola
MasterCard Lola is a former Formula One team that contested one race in the 1997 Formula One season. It quickly withdrew from the sport after failing to qualify in its sole race...

 Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 team.

On October 12, 2007 MasterCard offered $160,000 to the municipal government of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 so that the city could keep its ice rink
Ice rink
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...

s open, as the city was facing a budget shortfall.

Headquarters

MasterCard has its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters
MasterCard International Global Headquarters
The MasterCard International Global Headquarters is an office building located at 2000 Purchase Street in the town of Harrison, New York that was constructed in the early 1980s as part of a movement of large corporations to suburban estate settings and has been called the "architectural jewel of...

 in Purchase
Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...

, New York.

Management and Board of Directors

Key executives include:
  • Ajay Banga
    Ajay Banga
    Ajay Banga is the current president and chief executive officer of MasterCard.MasterCard announced on April 12, 2010 that Ajay Banga, previously MasterCard’s president and chief operating officer, had been named by the Board of Directors to serve as the company’s president and chief executive...

    : President and Chief Executive Officer
  • Robert Reeg: President – Global Technology & Operations
  • Alfredo Gangotena: Chief Marketing Officer
    Chief marketing officer
    Chief Marketing Officer is a corporate title referring to an executive responsible for various marketing activities in an organization...

     – Global Marketing
  • Gary Flood: President – Products & Services
  • Noah Hanft: General Counsel
    General Counsel
    A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...

    , Chief Franchise Officer and Corporate President – International Markets

  • Chris McWilton: President – US Markets
  • Michael Michl: Chief Administration Officer
  • Wendy Murdock: Chief Franchise Officer
  • Javier Perez: President – Region Head MasterCard Europe
  • Vicky Bindra: President – Region Head Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa
  • Christopher Thom: Chief Risk Officer
    Chief risk officer
    The chief risk officer or chief risk management officer of a corporation is the executive accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks, and related opportunities, to a business and its various segments. Risks are commonly categorized as strategic,...

     – Risk Management
    Risk management
    Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities...

  • Stephanie Voquer: Chief Human Resources Officer
    Chief human resources officer
    A Chief Human Resources Officer is a corporate officer who oversees all HR and industrial relations operations for an organization. Similar job titles include: Chief People Officer, Chief Personnel Officer, Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Senior Vice President of Human Resources...


As of December 2004, the following banks are represented on MasterCard's board of directors:
  • Europay España, S.A.
    Europay International
    Europay International was the name of the entity created by the merger of Eurocard International, and Eurocheque International. The merged entity was headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, on the same premises as EPSS and MasterCard EMEA .Europay International was the owner of the...

  • HSBC
    HSBC
    HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...

  • Clarima Banca
  • Capital One
    Capital One
    Capital One Financial Corp. is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products...

  • Banamex (Citigroup
    Citigroup
    Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...

    's Mexican division)
  • Citigroup
    Citigroup
    Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Citigroup was formed from one of the world's largest mergers in history by combining the banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomerate...

  • Royal Bank of Scotland
    Royal Bank of Scotland
    The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is a British banking and insurance holding company in which the UK Government holds an 84% stake. This stake is held and managed through UK Financial Investments Limited, whose voting rights are limited to 75% in order for the bank to retain its listing on the...

  • MBNA America
    MBNA
    MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...

     (now Bank of America
    Bank of America
    Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

    )
  • Westpac Banking Corporation

  • Southern Bank Berhad
  • Bank of Montreal
    Bank of Montreal
    The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...

  • Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel
  • Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband
    Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband
    Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband is the German association of saving banks. It was founded in 1924 by the merger of Deutscher Sparkassenverband and Deutscher Zentral-Giroverband. The headquarter is located in Berlin since 1999, having previously been located in Bonn.-Presidents:*Ernst...

  • Orient Corporation
  • Bank AL Habib
    Bank AL Habib
    For the original bank with a similar name, see: HBL PakistanThe Bank AL Habib Limited, run by the Dawood Habib family group of companies, is one of the growing banks in Pakistan. It was selected as one of the top 200 Best Under A Billion companies by Forbes Asia in their annual review of 2005...

  • Banco Mercantil
  • Banesco


MasterMoney

MasterMoney is the branding of a MasterCard debit card
Debit card
A debit card is a plastic card that provides the cardholder electronic access to his or her bank account/s at a financial institution...

 distributed in North America. Like many debit cards, the brand has capabilities of being used as an ATM card
ATM card
An ATM card is a card issued by a bank, credit union or building society that can be used at an ATM for deposits, withdrawals, account information, and other types of transactions, often through interbank networks.Some ATM cards can also be used:* at a branch, as identification for in-person...

 as well as a credit card, providing sufficient funds are in one's bank account
Bank account
A Bank account is a financial account recording the financial transactions between the customer and the bank and the resulting financial position of the customer with the bank .-Account types:...

 (usually a checking account) in order to complete a transaction.

PayPass

MasterCard PayPass is an EMV
EMV
EMV stands for Europay, MasterCard and VISA, a global standard for inter-operation of integrated circuit cards and IC card capable point of sale terminals and automated teller machines , for authenticating credit and debit card transactions.It is a joint effort between Europay, MasterCard and...

 compatible, "contactless" payment feature based on the ISO/IEC 14443 standard that provides cardholders with a simpler way to pay by tapping a payment card or other payment device, such as a phone or key fob, on a point-of-sale terminal reader rather than swiping or inserting a card.

In 2003, MasterCard concluded a nine-month PayPass market trial in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, with JPMorgan Chase, Citibank
Citibank
Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

, and MBNA
MBNA
MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...

. More than 16,000 cardholders and more than 60 retailer locations participated in the market trial. In addition, MasterCard worked with Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

, AT&T Wireless
AT&T Wireless
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., founded in 1987 as McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc., and now legally known as New Cingular Wireless Services, Inc., formerly part of AT&T Corp., is a wireless telephone carrier in the United States, based in Redmond, Washington, and later traded on the New York...

, and JPMorgan Chase to incorporate MasterCard PayPass into mobile phones using Near Field Communication
Near Field Communication
Near field communication, or NFC, allows for simplified transactions, data exchange, and wireless connections between two devices in proximity to each other, usually by no more than a few centimeters. It is expected to become a widely used system for making payments by smartphone in the United States...

 technology, in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

. PayPass is expected to be integrated into mobile phones soon.

In 2005, MasterCard began to roll out PayPass in certain markets. As of September 2011, the following financial institutions have issued cards that feature MasterCard PayPass:
  1. Viseca Card Service SA (Switzerland)
  2. Westpac
    Westpac
    Westpac , is a multinational financial services, one of the Australian "big four" banks and the second-largest bank in New Zealand....

     (Australia)
  3. Bank of America
    Bank of America
    Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

  4. Banca Intesa Beograd
    Banca Intesa Beograd
    Banca Intesa Beograd is a bank operating in Serbia, majority owned by Italian Intesa Sanpaolo and other 7% by International Financial Corporation, World Bank....

     (Serbia)
  5. Fifth Third Bank
    Fifth Third Bank
    Fifth Third Bank is a U.S. regional banking corporation, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the principal subsidiary of holding company Fifth Third Bancorp ....

     (United States)
  6. JPMorgan Chase (available through its "blink" contactless feature in the United States)
  7. Citibank
    Citibank
    Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

     (both MasterCard credit and debit cards)
  8. HSBC Bank USA
    HSBC Bank USA
    HSBC Bank USA, National Association, the American subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in McLean, Virginia . HSBC Bank USA, N.A...

     (debit card only)
  9. Washington Mutual
    Washington Mutual
    Washington Mutual, Inc. , abbreviated to WaMu, was a savings bank holding company and the former owner of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008....

     (United States, available on the Debit MasterCard, Gold Debit MasterCard & Platinum Debit MasterCards)
  10. Key Bank
    Key Bank
    KeyBank is a regional bank headquartered in Key Tower within Cleveland, Ohio's Public Square. , it is the 19th largest bank in the United States based on total deposits...

     (United States, debit card only)
  11. Citizens Bank and Charter One Bank
    Citizens Financial Group
    Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is an American bank headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, which operates in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Citizens is a wholly owned...

     (both MasterCard credit and debit cards, switching to Visa in fall 2009)
  12. Commonwealth Bank (Australia, notable for featuring it on every MasterCard issued)
  13. Garanti Bank
    Garanti Bank
    Garanti Bank is the second largest-private bank in Turkey with US$90 billion in assets as of December 31, 2010. On November 2nd, 2010 BBVA , Spain's second largest bank, acquired 24.9% stake in Garanti Bank for $5.8 billion. Garanti provides retail, commercial, corporate and private banking...

     (Turkey, available through its Bonus Trink Card)
  14. Banco de Oro (Philippines, available through its BDO International ATM Card)
  15. Bank of Montreal
    Bank of Montreal
    The Bank of Montreal , , or BMO Financial Group, is the fourth largest bank in Canada by deposits. The Bank of Montreal was founded on June 23, 1817 by John Richardson and eight merchants in a rented house in Montreal, Quebec. On May 19, 1817 the Articles of Association were adopted, making it...

     (Canada, available on most cards issued after November 1, 2007)
  16. President's Choice Financial
    President's Choice Financial
    President’s Choice Financial is a banking service provided by Loblaw Companies . Several different organizations provide individual financial services under the President's Choice Financial umbrella:...

     (Canada)
  17. CIMB Bank
    CIMB
    CIMB Group CIMB Group is a regional universal bank operating in high growth economies in ASEAN. CIMB Group has the widest retail branch network across the region and is an indigenous ASEAN investment bank....

     (Malaysia)
  18. Bank Zachodni WBK SA
    Bank Zachodni WBK SA
    Bank Zachodni WBK is a Polish bank with headquarters in Wrocław, Poznań and Warsaw, offering financial products and services. The bank is one of the three largest banks in Poland. It was formed by the merger in 2001 of Bank Zachodni SA and Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy SA...

     (Poland)
  19. Deutsche Kreditbank AG (Germany, issuer of Lufthansa
    Lufthansa
    Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft , and Hansa .The airline is the world's fourth-largest airline in terms of overall passengers carried, operating...

     Miles & More
    Miles & More
    Miles & More is the largest traveler loyalty program in Europe with 20 million members as of February 2011. It offers rewards to passengers of the Star Alliance travelling on certain types of tickets...

     credit cards)
  20. Natwest (United Kingdom), on Maestro
    Maestro (debit card)
    Maestro is a multi-national debit card service owned by MasterCard, and was founded in 1990. Maestro cards are obtained from associate banks and can be linked to the card holder's current account, or they can be prepaid cards...

     cards; limited use in the London Docklands and City of London
    City of London
    The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

  21. HSBC (United Kingdom)
    HSBC Bank (Europe)
    HSBC Bank plc is one of the four major clearing banks in the United Kingdom and is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings. The business ranges from the traditional High Street roles of personal finance and commercial banking, to private banking, consumer finance as well as corporate and...

    , on credit cards; limited use in selected areas of London - Now Discontinued (only 300 of 32,000 cards issued were ever used in a contactless transaction)
  22. Canadian Tire Bank (Canada)
  23. Capital One
    Capital One
    Capital One Financial Corp. is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, auto loans, banking and savings products...

     (Canada)
  24. Barclaycard
    Barclaycard
    Barclaycard, part of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, is a global payment business. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly until the introduction of the Access card in 1972....

     (United Kingdom)
  25. Shinhan Bank
    Shinhan Bank
    Shinhan Bank , is a bank, headquartered in Seoul, Korea. Historically it was the first bank in Korea, established under the name Hanseong Bank in 1897. The bank was reestablished in 1982. It is part of the Shinhan Financial Group, along with Jeju Bank...

     (South Korea)
  26. Alior Bank (Poland)
  27. Poste italiane
    Poste Italiane
    Poste italiane S.p.A. is the government-owned postal service of Italy, headquartered in Rome.Besides providing core postal services, Poste Italiane Group offers integrated products, as well as communication, logistics and financial services in Italy....

     (Italy)
  28. Banka Koper (Slovenia)
  29. OTP Bank
    OTP Bank
    OTP Bank is the biggest commercial bank in Hungary, operating in Central and Eastern Europe. The bank provides universal financial services for more than 13 million costumers, through nearly 1500 branches in 9 countries....

     (Hungary, launched in September 2009)
  30. Takarék Bank (Hungary)
  31. Lloyds TSB
    Lloyds TSB
    Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...

     (United Kingdom)
  32. Banca Popolare dell'Emilia Romagna (Italy, launched in January 2010)
  33. Alfa-Bank (Russia)
  34. mBank
    MBank
    mBank is a Polish direct bank, part of BRE Bank . mBank was launched as a greenfield venture in 2000 and started its operations on November 26, 2000. 10 years later it had acquired 2.5 million customers and had 14 billion PLN deposits and 13.1 billion PLN in loans...

     (Poland)
  35. MultiBank (Poland)
  36. Citi Handlowy (Poland)
  37. Inteligo
    Inteligo
    Inteligo Financial Services S.A. is one of the first online banks of Poland. It was founded by David Putts and Andrzej Klesyk, two former McKinsey consultants, and Hasan Mustafa and Kyle Spicer, two former ABN AMRO Bank professionals, as an independent start-up and partnership with Bankgesellschaft...

     (Poland)
  38. BNP Paribas
    BNP Paribas
    BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris, with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010 BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over $3.1 trillion. It was formed through the merger...

     (Poland)
  39. ING Bank Śląski
    ING Bank Slaski
    ING Bank Śląski S.A. is a Polish bank based in Katowice. The majority owner is ING Group.-History:It was established as Bank Śląski in 1988 as a result of separation from the National Bank of Poland. In 1991 he was transformed from a state bank into a limited company and in 1994 hit its shares on...

     (Poland)
  40. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) for Austria (Austria)
  41. Raiffeisen Bank (Poland, Russia)
  42. Getin Noble Bank (Poland)
  43. Polbank EFG (Poland)
  44. Millennium (Poland)
  45. Deutsche Bank PBC (Poland)
  46. Invest Bank (Poland)
  47. Dexia
    Dexia
    Dexia N.V./S.A., also referred to as the Dexia Group, is a Belgian-French financial institution active in public finance, providing retail and commercial banking services to individuals and SMEs, asset management, and insurance...

     banka Slovensko, a.s. (Slovakia, since January 2011)
  48. Kiwibank
    Kiwibank
    Kiwibank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited. Through Kiwibank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops and joint venture Books & More and Papermate outlets throughout New Zealand.The bank was initiated as part of Jim...

     (New Zealand, launched September 2011)
  49. National Bank of Canada (Canada, launched in spring 2009)


A U.S. issued HSBC
HSBC Bank USA
HSBC Bank USA, National Association, the American subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in McLean, Virginia . HSBC Bank USA, N.A...

 Debit MasterCard with PayPass can be used in the U.K.

Banknet

MasterCard operates Banknet, a global telecommunications network
Telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...

 linking all MasterCard card issuers, acquirers and data processing centers into a single financial network. The operations hub is located in St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

. Banknet uses the ISO 8583
ISO 8583
ISO 8583 Financial transaction card originated messages — Interchange message specifications is the International Organization for Standardization standard for systems that exchange electronic transactions made by cardholders using payment cards...

 protocol.

MasterCard's network is significantly different from Visa's. Visa's is a star based system where all endpoints terminate at one of several main data centers, where all transactions are processed centrally. MasterCard's network is an edge based, peer-to-peer network where transactions travel a meshed network directly to other endpoints, without the need to travel to a single point. This allows MasterCard's network to be much more resilient, in that a single failure cannot isolate a large number of endpoints.

EPS-Net

MasterCard Europe operated a Network known as EPS-Net – this interfaced Banknet but it was decommissioned in January 2010. EPS-Net is used to link Issuers and Acquirers for Online POS/ATM Transaction Processing.

Alleged Security Breach

On December 9, 2010 the servers of Mastercard underwent a massive attack as part of a Operation Avenge Assange for closing down payments of whistleblowing platform Wikileaks
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...

. According to several news sites, security of thousands of credit cards was compromised during that attack due to a phishing-site set up by the attackers; however, Mastercard denied this, stating that "cardholder account data has not been placed at risk".

See also

  • Access credit card
  • American Express
    American Express
    American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

  • China UnionPay
    China UnionPay
    China UnionPay , also known as UnionPay or by its abbreviation, CUP, is the only domestic bank card organization in the People's Republic of China . Founded in March 2002, China UnionPay is an association for China's banking card industry, operating under the approval of the People's Bank of China...

  • Cirrus
    Cirrus (interbank network)
    Cirrus is a worldwide interbank network operated by MasterCard Worldwide, and was founded in 1986. It links MasterCard, Maestro, Diners Club credit, debit and prepaid cards to a network of over 1,000,000 ATMs in 93 countries....

  • Damage waiver
    Damage waiver
    Damage waiver, or as it is often referred to, collision damage waiver or loss damage waiver is an optional damage coverage available while renting a vehicle. It covers the rental vehicle. Some companies also offer liability insurance and towing coverage.Terms and prices vary among car rental...

  • Diners Club
    Diners Club
    Diners Club International, founded as Diners Club, is a charge card company formed in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara, Ralph Schneider and Matty Simmons...

  • Discover
    Discover Card
    The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to...

  • Entrust Bankcard
    Entrust Bankcard
    Entrust Bankcard is a payment processing company based in Phoenix, Arizona in the United States. Founded in 2006, Entrust Bankcard was listed at #18 on Inc.'s 2011 "Inc. 500" of the 500 fastest growing companies in America. Entrust Bankcard provides point of sale, online gateway and wireless...

  • JCB
    Japan Credit Bureau
    Japan Credit Bureau is a credit card company based in Tokyo, Japan. Its English name is .Founded in 1961, JCB established dominance over the Japanese credit card market when it purchased Osaka Credit Bureau in 1968, and its cards are now issued in 20 different countries...

  • Mondex
    Mondex
    Mondex is a smart card electronic cash system which was originally developed by National Westminster Bank in the United Kingdom and subsequently sold to MasterCard International. Mondex launched in a number of markets during the 1990s, expanding from an original trial in Swindon, UK to Hong Kong,...

  • Octopus card
    Octopus card
    The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless stored value smart card used to transfer electronic payments in online or offline systems in Hong Kong...

  • Payoneer
    Payoneer
    Payoneer is an Internet-based financial services business that allows users to transfer money and receive payments through re-loadable prepaid MasterCard debit cards...

  • Redecard
    Redecard
    Redecard is a Brazilian multi-brand acquirer with 25 brands in its portfolio, for credit, debit and benefit cards. Its activities include merchant acquiring, capturing, transmission, processing and settlement of credit and debit card transactions, prepayment of receivables to merchants , rental of...

  • Visa

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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