MasterCard Europe today announced its third quarter 2010 operating results for the Europe region. This was the fourth consecutive quarter to demonstrate double digit growth in purchase transactions, up 14.3% compared to the same period in 2009 - further evidence of the shift from cash to electronic payments by consumers across Europe.
Commenting, Javier Perez, President of MasterCard Europe said, "The shift away from cash to plastic continues to gain momentum. This trend is driven by consumers who not only seek out a value-add alternative to cash, but who also realize the convenience and security benefits obtained through electronic payments - an increasingly important criteria for recession weary shoppers and holiday-makers."
"A great example here is momentum we see around SEPA. When we looked at travel spend trends over the holiday we found that Dutch cardholders set a summer record for cross-border spend on July 24th, with well over 400,000 transactions on their Maestro cards in five of the top European holiday country destinations. This milestone for Maestro was complimented by Barclaycard‟s decision to enhance its German Maestro portfolio to become „Maestro only‟, further strengthening Maestro at the domestic as well as international level."
European Results
For the third quarter 2010, the European region reported MasterCard gross dollar volume for Europe increased 13.9%; purchase volume grew 13.3%; purchase transactions increased 14.3%, and cash transactions increased 13.9%, compared to the third quarter 2009.
From 1 July through 30 September, European cardholders made 2 billion purchase transactions with their MasterCard-branded cards, including those made online.
As of 30 September 2010, 205 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customers across Europe, an increase of 4.5 % compared to the same quarter in 2009. European cardholders could use their MasterCard cards at 9 million acceptance locations in the region and at over 30 million acceptance locations worldwide.
In addition, the Maestro brand mark appeared on 300 million cards. Consumers can now make point of sale purchases with their Maestro cards at more than 7 million merchant locations throughout Europe and at over 13 million merchant locations worldwide.
Significant other European business achievements for the quarter included:
The influence of 'affluent'
As an illustration of its continued investment in the premium segment, MasterCard inaugurated its „Platinum Embassy‟ platform - an experience-rich consumer programme providing MasterCard Platinum cardholders with VIP access to some of the most exclusive events in the French cultural calendar. The programme recently debuted with the opening of the Claude Monet exhibition in Paris, with further events including Platinum cardholder-only evenings to the newly opened Mini Palais restaurant.
Tapping into Innovation
MasterCard PayPass contactless technology provided over 100,000 music festival-goers exclusive "Tap&Go" capability in three major festivals in Poland.
Concluding, Perez said, "Last week, MasterCard gathered with more than 1,000 senior retailers at the annual World Retail Congress in Berlin. A primary focus of those who attended was the need to understand and harness the digital revolution, where e-Commerce and mobile payments represents a major „evolution‟ and opportunity for the world of commerce. Another significant focus expressed was the need to remain consumer centric. It is this approach, we believe, that has defined our success this last quarter."