[MASTERCARD INTERNATIONAL LETTERHEAD]
Contacts:
Sharon Gamsin, 1-914-249-5622, sgamsin@mastercard.com
Veronika Clough, 1-914-249-3198, veronika_clough@mastercard.com
MasterCard International Reports
Continued Growth In First Quarter of 2004
All Regions Achieve Double Digit Growth in Purchase Volume
For Both Credit and Offline Debit
Purchase, NY, May 3, 2004 - MasterCard International today announced strong
performance results for the first three months of 2004, demonstrating continued
growth across almost all regions and in key measures of success in the payments
industry. Reflecting improving global economic activity, total purchases on
MasterCard credit and debit cards rose 13.6% in the first quarter, with each
region reporting double-digit growth.
"The year is getting off to a strong start for both MasterCard and our
customers," said Robert W. Selander, MasterCard President and CEO. "We have seen
an increase in worldwide purchase growth in every region, reflecting the
improving global economy. Compared to the same period in 2003, all regions of
MasterCard experienced double-digit growth in purchases, including Asia/Pacific,
which is turning around after a challenging year in 2003."
Performance highlights for the first three months of 2004, in addition to
purchase volume, include:
o Cardholders across the globe used MasterCard-branded cards (excluding
Maestro(R) and Cirrus(R)) for over 3.7 billion transactions, generating
gross dollar volume (GDV) of $331.9 billion, an increase of 8.4% over the
same period in 2003. GDV includes both purchase and cash volume;
o MasterCard's almost 25,000 customer financial institutions around the world
had issued more than 627.5 million MasterCard-branded cards, a 6.6%
increase over first quarter 2003.
MasterCard's strong growth in the first three months of 2004 was fueled by
growth in both credit and debit programs. GDV for worldwide credit and charge
programs grew 8.9% to $270.1 billion, and GDV for offline debit programs rose
6.7% to $61.7 billion over the same period in 2003. Gross transactions for
credit and offline debit programs increased by 10% in 2004 compared to the first
quarter in 2003.
Currently, cardholders can use their MasterCard cards at more than 22 million
locations around the world. Acceptance locations include merchant locations,
ATMs and other locations where cash may be obtained.
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MasterCard International - Page 2
MasterCard International Reports Strong Growth in First Quarter of 2004
May 3, 2004
<Table>
<Caption>
For the 3 Months ended March 31, 2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Purchase Purchase Cash Cash
GDV Growth Growth Growth Accounts Cards
All Programs except Volume Transactions Volume Transactions
On-Line Debit Programs (Billions) (Local) (Billions) (Local) (Millions) (Billions) (Local) (Millions) (Millions) (Millions)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Asia/Middle
East Africa............ $3.4 27.4% $2.3 25.3% 43.6 $1.0 32.5% 9.0 8.7 10.3
Asia/Pacific............. 55.5 -3.0% 36.6 10.8% 379.3 18.9 -21.9% 53.2 111.0 122.6
Europe................... 89.7 14.4% 69.0 16.1% 896.2 20.6 9.3% 174.4 90.4 101.9
Latin America............ 15.0 30.8% 6.6 23.8% 186.1 8.5 36.8% 72.9 39.3 49.2
Canada................... 10.8 13.3% 8.9 12.9% 131.4 1.9 15.1% 4.4 20.8 27.1
United States............ 157.5 7.3% 120.8 12.5% 1,681.0 36.7 -6.9% 112.5 261.4 316.4
Worldwide................ 331.9 8.4% 244.3 13.6% 3,317.6 87.6 -3.8% 426.5 531.6 627.5
Credit Programs
United States............ 126.7 8.0% 99.6 12.0% 1,178.7 27.1 -4.5% 18.0 211.8 262.0
Worldwide................ 270.1 8.9% 208.8 14.0% 2,570.0 61.3 -5.6% 180.0 457.1 542.3
Off-Line Debit Programs
United States............ 30.8 4.6% 21.2 15.0% 502.3 9.6 -12.9% 94.5 49.6 54.4
Worldwide................ 61.7 6.7% 35.4 11.6% 747.6 26.3 0.7% 246.5 74.5 85.2
</Table>
Significant Milestones Achieved
MasterCard also achieved a wide range of significant business milestones in the
first quarter:
o Diners Club, a part of Citigroup, and MasterCard International announced
that they are pursuing an alliance to provide enhanced acceptance to Diners
Club cardholders. Diners Club cards that are issued in the United States
and Canada will be reissued with the MasterCard brand on the front of the
card in order to function as MasterCard cards. These cards will be accepted
at the over 22 million locations around the world that accept MasterCard
credit cards. Diners Club cards issued by Diners Club International
franchises (outside the United States and Canada) will include the
MasterCard brand on the back of the card, allowing these cards to be
accepted at MasterCard merchants in the U.S. and Canada;
o MasterCard and ABN AMRO Bank N.V. signed a multi-year strategic alliance
under which MasterCard will be the bank's preferred payment card brand in
more than 60 countries. MasterCard will work with ABN AMRO to develop their
existing payment card business and will support their entry into new
markets;
o MasterCard Advisors' acquisition of Tower Group, the leading research and
advisory firm focused on the global financial services industry,
significantly strengthened our independent advisory research unit, Purchase
Street Research. MasterCard Advisors is a global professional services
organization, offering consulting, research, outsourcing and information
products and services.
o British Airways became the first global airline to offer MasterCard(R)
SecureCode(TM) across multiple regions, with a roll-out to 23 country
sites, including the United Kingdom and United States. As more and more
consumers purchase tickets via the
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MasterCard International - Page 3
MasterCard International Reports Strong Growth in First Quarter of 2004
May 3, 2004
Internet, this signifies an important move from the airline industry in
protecting consumers when they shop online.
Note to Editors
Online debit activity, which includes MasterCard's online debit program Maestro
and MasterCard's ATM-only brand Cirrus, will be available at a later date.
The data in this press release is provided by the member financial institutions
of MasterCard International Incorporated and its affiliates ("MasterCard") and
is subject to revision and amendment by such members subsequent to the date of
its release. A portion of the data relating to accounts and cards reflects the
impact of routine portfolio changes among members and other practices that may
lead to over counting of the underlying data in certain circumstances.
Information with respect to gross dollar volumes ("GDV") includes the impact of
balance transfers and convenience checks. The number of cards includes virtual
cards, which are MasterCard-branded payment accounts in connection with which
functional cards are not generally issued.
Information denominated in U.S. dollars is calculated by applying an established
U.S. dollar/local currency exchange rate for each local currency in which
MasterCard volumes are reported.
Period-over-period rates of change in volume-based information are provided on a
local-currency basis. Accordingly, the period-over-period rates of change in
this press release cannot be extrapolated directly by reference to the U.S.
dollar volume information presented for the current and historical periods.
MasterCard-branded data regarding GDV, purchase volume, purchase transactions,
cash volume and cash transactions is derived from information provided by
MasterCard members that is subject to logical and statistical verification by
MasterCard and partial cross-checking against information provided by
MasterCard's transaction processing systems. MasterCard-branded data concerning
accounts and cards is derived from information provided by MasterCard members
that is subject to certain limited logical and statistical verification by
MasterCard. Certain information with respect to ATM locations is provided by
third parties and has not been independently verified by MasterCard.
The data in this press release includes information with respect to
MasterCard-branded transactions that are not processed by MasterCard and
transactions for which MasterCard does not earn revenues. Accordingly, the data
in this press release cannot be taken as an indication of the financial
performance of MasterCard Incorporated.
Acceptance locations include merchant locations, ATMs and other locations where
cash may be obtained. In certain countries, reporting of merchant locations
includes all acceptance terminals deployed at individual merchants; terminals
supported by multiple acquirers of the same merchant may be counted more than
once in the compilation of the data.
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MasterCard International - Page 4
MasterCard International Reports Strong Growth in First Quarter of 2004
May 3, 2004
About MasterCard International
MasterCard International is a leading global payments solutions company that
provides a broad variety of innovative services in support of our global
members' credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and
related payment programs. MasterCard International manages a family of
well-known, widely accepted payment cards brands including MasterCard(R),
Maestro(R) and Cirrus(R) and serves financial institutions, consumers and
businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning
Priceless(R) advertising campaign is now seen in 96 countries and in 47
languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more
information go to www.mastercardinternational.com.
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