MasterCard Worldwide is a driving force at the heart of commerce, enabling global transactions and bringing insight into the payments process to make commerce faster, more secure, and more valuable to everyone involved. As a critical link among financial institutions and millions of businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide, MasterCard provides services in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard advances commerce worldwide by developing more secure, convenient and rewarding payment solutions, processing billions of payments seamlessly across the globe, and building economic connections that accelerate business.
Behind MasterCard’s well-known payment card brands is a unique, three-tiered business model:
- Franchisor: Through the thousands of financial institutions that are MasterCard’s customers, the company markets a strong portfolio of brands and products worldwide, including MasterCard, Maestro®, Cirrus® and MasterCard® PayPass™. With these, MasterCard opens the door to commerce at an unsurpassed network of more than 24 million acceptance locations around the world and, in many cases, guarantees payment through its system. (It does not, however, issue cards, set annual fees, determine annual percentage rates on cards, or solicit merchants to accept cards. MasterCard’s customers, a myriad of financial institutions worldwide, manage the relationships with their cardholders and with merchants.)
- Processor: MasterCard’s streamlined and intelligent approach to processing enables efficient commerce on a global scale. It is based on an agile network, one of the largest VPNs in the world, which offers unparalleled speed, integration, and reliability. MasterCard helps banks and merchants grow by enabling rapid adoption of new ways to pay and offering customized solutions that deliver value through technology.
- Advisor: MasterCard provides industry-leading insight and solutions that advance commerce by making the payment process faster, more seamless, more secure and more valuable to everyone involved. Using sophisticated processing and data-mining capabilities, for example, MasterCard tracks consumer behavior and buying trends around the globe and provides that insight to its customers. Through MasterCard Advisors, the largest and only global consultancy focused on the payments industry, the company provides strategic and operational solutions covering the payments process from end to end.
At the core of the company’s business strategy is a unique and laser-sharp focus on its customers. The company’s customer teams provide a single point of contact for activities across the globe and a truly unified partnership for mutual success that sets MasterCard apart from the competition. MasterCard is an advocate for its customers’ businesses, committed to driving value for their enterprises.
As it looks to the future, MasterCard is committed not only to continuing to deliver value to its customers and other stakeholders, but also to promoting the advantages of electronic payments, accelerating the displacement of cash and checks, and advancing commerce across the globe.