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For the full year 2005, MasterCard cardholders across the APMEA region used over 162.8 million MasterCard-branded cards (up 13 per cent) for more than 2.5 billion transactions (up 15.9 per cent), generating a gross dollar volume of US$283.5 billion, an increase of 9.7 percent over 2004.
"The results for 2005 display the continued momentum that our brand is gaining across the region. The innovative payment products that we are able to provide consumers through working closely with our customer financial institutions are also an inherent part of the growth that we are experiencing," said André Sekulic, president, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard International. "We recognize that customization and segmentation are our strengths and will continue to play a focal role in the success of our business in the region."
MasterCard's strong performance in 2005 was fueled by growth in both credit and debit programs. Global performance highlights for 2005 include:
- Cardholders worldwide used 749.3 million MasterCard-branded cards (excluding Maestro® and Cirrus®) for more than 19.1 billion transactions, generating GDV of $1.7 trillion, an increase of 11.9 percent over 2004. GDV includes both purchase and cash volume.
- At year-end, MasterCard's almost 25,000 customer financial institutions around the world had issued 749.3 million MasterCard-branded cards, a 10.5 percent increase over 2004.
- The value of purchases on MasterCard-branded cards showed strong growth worldwide, rising 13.7 percent to nearly $1.2 trillion.
Significant Milestones Achieved in the APMEA Region:
- In 2005, MasterCard continued to see great momentum in smart card adoption within the region. In line with its overall smart card strategy, MasterCard in collaboration with some of the word's leading technology vendors announced the availability of US$0.99 multi-application smart cards.
MasterCard continued to work closely with customer financial institutions, and launched the Philippines' first and only EMV-compliant, chip-based card - the BPI Express Credit GOLD MasterCard card, as well as China's first chip-based card, known as the Peony MasterCard card. The company also announced that Network International was the first vendor in the Middle East to become EMV certified, as well as, the launch of the MasterCard Al Ahly Club Card, the first smart card that carries the name of a sports club in Egypt.
- The uptake of contactless payments continued to strengthen with significant interest from customer financial institutions and vendors across the region. MasterCard® PayPass™ pilot programs were rolled out in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. In addition, recognition of the world's first MasterCard OneSmart™ PayPass™ Chip Combi Card, led MasterCard to win first place in the transportation category of the 10th Annual Sesames Awards Ceremony held at CARTES, the international smart card show in Paris.
- In line with broadening customized services and products for customer financial institutions in the region, several new and innovative payment solutions were introduced.
- Malaysia, New Zealand, Thailand and India all launched Titanium MasterCard programs. The New Zealand launch marked a first, as Titanium cardholders also received a companion smaller-sized Titanium MasterCard SideCard, the markets' first ever mini card.
- Teaming up with MasterCard, National Bank of Kuwait became the first institution in Kuwait to add the NBK curved-edge credit card to its family of credit cards, a variant of MasterCard's proprietary mc2 card design.
- Ningbo Commercial Bank and China UnionPay launched China's first co-brand MasterCard SideCard™ - the Huitong Auto Club credit card.
- MasterCard and BankWest launched Australia's first MasterCard-branded debit card at the end of the year - the BankWest MasterCard Debit Card.
- In South Africa MasterCard collaborated with Standard and MTN, a cellular network operator, to launch MobileMoney, a program that allows MasterCard cardholders to use their mobile phones to access account-related information.
- Within the Commercial Payments arena, MasterCard signed several significant first-of-their-kind agreements. MasterCard collaborated with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to implement the Victorian Government's Corporate and Purchasing Card business, the largest corporate card program in Australia. MasterCard also partnered with LG Group to roll-out a commercial card program across the LG Group's multinational subsidiaries.
In addition, India's Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Bank unveiled a double first: the HDFC Bank PowerPlus Business Card (which helps small and medium-sized enterprises manage payments of corporate business expenses) and the HDFC Bank Corporate Card (which helps larger companies track and analyze business expenses incurred by their employees).
- In line with its established region knowledge leadership program and to further extend its suite of research products, MasterCard launched the inaugural MasterIndex™ of Women's Advancement - a report that compares the socio-economic level of women to men in 13 markets using four key indicators: participation in the labor force, tertiary education, managerial positions and above median income.
As part of ongoing research and analysis of business dynamics, financial policies and regulatory activities in the Asia/Pacific region, MasterCard continued to publish its other products under the MasterIndex suite and invested extensive resources in extending its series of its Insights Report.
Posted by Janeta Novakovic, Assistant News Editor
