Larry Flanagan

'We are demonstrating the Pay-Pass system here in Dubai which is a card with a radio frequency identity chip that allows payments of up to $25 without a swipe and signature. You just flash it past the point-of-sale terminal,' says MasterCard Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Global Marketing Customer Group, Larry Flanagan, who was speaking at the 'Leaders in Dubai' event.

'Pay-Pass was only rolled out in the United States last month in conjunction with McDonalds, drugstores and cinemas. It is ideal for smaller payments without cash, and speeds up payments. We are looking to see if the banks in Dubai are interested, and it is a mark of the advanced nature of the local banking sector that we see a niche for Pay-Pass here.'

Mr. Flanagan has worldwide responsibility for the strategic evolution and management of the MasterCard consumer and corporate brands. He employs a strategic mix of brand advertising, interactive marketing, sponsorship and other promotional campaigns to deploy advanced new products.

ADCB debit card

'Another example of advanced technology was our solution for the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank debit cards. They have a micro-chip with an in-built loyalty program that automatically collects points that you can then use to obtain instant rewards.

'And for the National Bank of Egypt we organized a remittance system in cooperation with a UAE exchange house that allows workers in the UAE to charge up an account with cash that can be accessed immediately by a cardholder in Egypt. This has been so successful that we have just extended the scheme to Kuwait, and the National Bank of Abu Dhabi has rolled out a similar product.'

This is a sign of how far MasterCard has come in the past four years since moving its regional headquarters to Dubai. Co-branded cards are also an innovation, one for the Virgin Megastore in conjunction with MashreqBank, and the most recent for Qatar Airways with Qatar National Bank incorporating frequent flyer points.

'We have a lot of knowledge about co-branded cards and we expect to launch many more,' says Mr. Flanagan. 'It all depends on the demands of our customers, the banks.'

Such card production innovation has helped to fuel rapid expansion in the Middle East for MasterCard whose brand was virtually unrepresented in the region prior to the year 2000. Mr. Flanagan promises that MasterCard will be even more active in promoting its brand in the next couple of years.

'Our international 'Priceless' advertising campaign has been featured on many Arabic television channels,' he says. 'And we are also active globally on the Internet, and will be moving our advertising online in this region shortly. We already have a UAE website for MasterCard where you can find out about cards available in this market.

Internet future

'The Internet is a natural place for us as shopping payments are exclusively credit card based, and we can align ourselves with our target travel and entertainment market. There are also new payment options online, such as paying utility bills, for which we want to create awareness.

'In addition, banks in the UAE generally offer the ability to monitor payments on cards through their Internet bank websites, and this is an answer to people who say that they sometimes lose track of what they are spending on cards.'

In short, MasterCard is stretching technology to its advantage in the Middle East to close the gap on its greatest competitor. 'Not Visa but cash and cheques,' says Mr. Flanagan.