MasterCard reports strong growth in its payment programs

"Although most economies around the world remained weak during the year, MasterCard continues to see strong growth in all aspects of our payment programs," said Robert W. Selander, MasterCard's president and CEO. "These results demonstrate the continued progress our payment solutions are making against cash and checks as consumers and merchants around the world increasingly recognize the convenient and secure options we offer."

In addition, Selander attributed MasterCard's success to the company's strategic focus on providing exceptional customer service and technological capabilities, unsurpassed acceptance, and customized payments solutions for its member financial institutions around the globe. "Our growth continues to reflect that more and more often, our members and their customers are turning to MasterCard as their payment brand of choice."

Highlights of the first nine months of 2002 include:

• Cardholders around the globe used MasterCard®-branded cards (excluding Cirrus® and Maestro® online debit activity) for more than 9.84 billion purchase and cash transactions in the first nine months of 2002, generating gross dollar volume (GDV) of $831.7 billion, an increase of 16.1% over the same period in 2001. Third quarter 2002 purchase and cash transactions reached 3.50 billion, generating GDV of $296 billion, a 16.5% gain over third quarter 2001;

• As of September 30, 2002, MasterCard's 25,000 member financial institutions around the world had issued nearly 578.8 million MasterCard-branded cards, a 15.6 % increase over September 30, 2001. These cards could be used at 29.6 million acceptance locations around the world;

• The value of purchases on MasterCard cards, a significant measure of success, continued to show substantial gains. Globally, purchase volume (excluding cash transactions) rose 14.4% to $580.3 billion for the first nine months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001. During the first nine months of 2002, MasterCard-branded cards were used for 8.59 billion purchase transactions. Purchase volume was $207.8 billion in the third quarter of 2002, a 16.1% increase from the 2001 period, with 3.07 billion transactions recorded.

MasterCard's strong growth in the first nine months of 2002 was fueled by growth in both credit and debit programs. GDV for worldwide MasterCard credit programs grew 15.1% to $690.6 billion, and GDV for MasterCard off-line debit programs rose 21.6% to $141.1 billion, in each case compared to the first nine months of 2001.

Strong Regional Results
Strong MasterCard-branded GDV growth was reported for all regions, with each reporting double-digit gains in the first nine months of 2002 compared to the same period in 2001: the U.S. rose 17.8%; Europe, 13.6%; Asia/Pacific, 12.7%; Latin America, 26.3%; South Asia, Middle East/Africa, 23.1%; and Canada, 19.8%.

In South Asia, Middle East/Africa, MasterCard GDV grew 23.1% during the first nine months of 2002, and 24.9% for third quarter of 2002, in each case compared to the same period in 2001. Middle East North Africa fueled the region's growth in the third quarter of 2002 with an increase of 31% compared to 2001.

For further information on the performance results described in this press release, please review MasterCard Incorporated's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 13, 2002, including the narrative description therein of the sources of, and bases of presentation for, the performance results for MasterCard's payment programs.