The MasterCard Electronic Business Card has been issued by MasterCard in Croatia to meet the growing demands of the rapidly expanding small to medium sized enterprise sector. With a growing SME business sector in Croatia, which employs over 98% of the country's entrepreneurs and more than half of all Croatian workforce employed in big, medium and small businesses, the programme offers exciting new opportunities and benefits for MasterCard members' banks and business executives in the country.

Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank (HAAB) uses NOMAD CORTEX to underpin its card programmes not only in branches throughout Croatia but, also throughout the other countries it spans including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro.

Via NOMAD CORTEX, HAAB has benefited from having a single common platform for processing card transactions at Point of Sale and ATMs, resulting in significant cost savings. The technology has also provided the ideal platform for HAAB to issue the MasterCard Electronic Business Card to its customers, placing it at the forefront of banking technology in the region.

"MasterCard Electronic Business card enriches the offer of MasterCard products targeted for businesses and offers the possibility of expanding the potential users base," emphasised Mr Zdenek Houser, General Manager for Croatia and Hungary, MasterCard Europe. "I am very happy that it is Croatia, one of the most developed countries in the region that is the first one to launch MasterCard Electronic Business card."

NOMAD CORTEX will enable HAAB to offer the first card of its type in the world, one that will afford a number of benefits for the user, including:

Cash availability - card can be used at all merchant locations in the country with MasterCard Electronic sign and at all ATM's with Cirrus sign

Flexibility - customer always have his/her money, with no risk if lost or stolen

Security - every transaction is signature authorized, and at ATM's exclusively by PIN

Finances control - spending is limited by the amount on user's account; every cash withdrawing on ATM is included in the bank statement; user can check his/her account through bank statement, HYPOnet or at the ATM.

"Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank has been opening the path for many new products in Croatian market. By issuing the Mastercard Electronic Business Card we have an ideal offering for the SME segment," said Mr Alberto Skendrovic, Executive Director Organisation/IT, Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank.

"We expect that the MasterCard Electronic Business card will help us, especially in the strenghtening of long term relationship with SME segment, which is becoming more and more important in Croatia. This card is targeted at every company and freelancers who has opened account in Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank, and it will enable them to withdraw cash in Croatia on ATM's and pay on POS terminals in amount they have on their account."