MasterCard

MasterCard International is the largest banking payment system that unites 22,000 financial institutions from 210 countries. The company’s activities are aimed at servicing individuals and legal entities, managing programs for issuing cards released under the MasterCard, Cirrus, Maestro brands.

History at MasterCard

The history of this powerful payment system began in 1966. Several American banks signed an agreement to create a powerful Interbank Card Association. Two years later, the company began successful partnership with the Eurocard system. In 1979, the name MasterCard Was approved.A year later, it has firmly consolidated one of the leading positions in the world.

In 2002, the company was reorganized into a joint stock company, and the MasterCard Incorporated holding became serious opponent for Visa.In 2006, IPO was held on the New York Stock Exchange. After that, the system was finally recognized as one of the most effective and reliable ones.The company now handles over 23 billion transactions annually.

Development at MasterCard

The company improves its financial results every year having demonstrated stable and confident growth. At the end of 2011, net revenue increased by 20.2% and reached $1.7 billion. One year later, the company got net profit of $2.4 billion. This result is significantly higher than that the company got in 2010 — $1.8 billion. MasterCard has achieved such outstanding results not only due to the intensive card issuance and market development, but also due to the introduction of new technologies.

Earnings per share have also grown significantly —up to $18.7 per share. The company’s total revenue exceeds the same indicator of the previous year by 21.2%, it reached 6.7 billion. Giving the intensive increase of popularity of the payment system, all indicators will rapidly increase in subsequent periods. The volume of processed transactions also increased significantly — by 18.3%. Volumes increased by 16.1% in local currency.

Now the MasterCard system amounts to more than 25% of all bank cards in the world. Many financial institutions are also interested in actively using all the benefits of MasterCard.

Electronic payments

All electronic payment systems expand the reach of potential customers by introducing the latest technologies. MasterCard is no exception. Reliability and efficiency of payment processing is a priority of the company’s activity.

The exceptional stability of the system inspires well-deserved confidence in many potential partners. In 2011, the volume of online payments made via MasterCard bank cards increased by almost a quarter.In addition, the number of people using cards to pay on the Internet has significantly increased.