MasterCard International recorded a strong performance for its payment programs for the first quarter of 2003. A 16.3 percent gross dollar volume (GDV) growth was reported for Middle East and Africa region in the first three months of the year.
South Asia and Middle East/Africa recorded a 12.6 percent solid transaction growth. Maestro acceptance in the region has been growing significantly with an increase of 40.3 percent in merchant terminals accepting Maestro as of March 31, 2003, compared to the same period in 2002. There were close to 16.1 million Maestro cards in circulation in the first three months of 2003.
Cardholders worldwide used MasterCard-branded cards and Cirrusfor about 3.4 billion transactions, generating an increase of 7.3 percent over the same period in 2002. In the first three months of 2003, MasterCard's 25,000 member financial institutions around the world had issued more than 595.4 million MasterCard-branded cards, an 11.3 percent increase over the same period in 2002.
MasterCard International provides a broad variety of services in support of credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs. MasterCard International manages a family of payment cards brands including MasterCard, Maestro and Cirrus and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
