MasterCard International announced strong performance results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2004, demonstrating positive growth across all regions and in key measures of success in the payments industry. In 2004, cardholders worldwide used 679.5 million MasterCard-branded cards for nearly 16.7 billion transactions, generating gross dollar volume (GDV) of $1.5 trillion, an increase of 10.6 percent over 2003.
“2004 marked the 25th anniversary of the MasterCard brand and the seventh year of our award-winning Priceless advertising campaign,” said Alan J. Heuer, chief operating officer, MasterCard International. “Today our customers, their cardholders and merchants are truly benefiting from a brand that is recognized globally. With more than 24 million acceptance locations around the world, no card is more widely accepted than MasterCard.”
“This year’s results affirm the continued strength of MasterCard’s relationships with our customers and our ability to meet increasing global demand for innovative and convenient payment solutions,” he continued. “The rate of GDV growth this year was nearly twice that of 2003, reflective of an improving global economic landscape and the continued emergence of credit and debit as the preferred payment options.”
In 2004, cardholders in the South Asia, Middle East and Africa Region used 12.7 million MasterCard-branded cards, generating gross dollar volume (GDV) of $15.7 billion, an increase of 25.5 percent over 2003.
“The SAMEA Region has doubled its GDV growth in the past two years and is one of the fastest growing regions for MasterCard. This unprecedented growth clearly illustrates the success of the MasterCard brand and the growing desire of our customer financial institutions and their cardholders to have a convenient card based payment solution program,” said Mark Beer, vice president, Sales and Corporate Services, MasterCard International, South Asia, Middle East and Africa. “MasterCard continues to lead the way in technology and innovation and focuses on helping its customers towards their goal of more profitable growth,” he added.
