#MasterCard appointed Ram Chari as Chief Executive Officer of ECS

MasterCard today announced that it has appointed Ram Chari as Chief Executive Officer of ECS. Based in Pune, India, Mr. Chari will lead the electronic payments solution provider in delivering the full spectrum of processing solutions and services to enhance MasterCard’s offerings across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA).

Coupled with over twenty years of financial services and processing experience, most recently as Senior Business Leader, Alliances and Processing, for MasterCard in APMEA, Mr. Chari will apply his diverse regional expertise to overseeing the global operations and growth of the business. In particular, he will be responsible for the smooth integration and overall execution of the company’s business strategy, as well as establishing dynamic synergies to fuel processing innovations.

Vicky Bindra, President for MasterCard in APMEA said, “We are pleased to have Ram lead ECS, as his wide and varied expertise, gained over many years of dedicated service to the payments industry, will help drive processing innovations at ECS. We believe this will complement MasterCard’s commitment to providing top-notch payments solutions to our merchants, customers and various stakeholders.”

In his previous role at MasterCard, Mr. Chari spearheaded developments in mergers and acquisitions as well as in organic business opportunities, which resulted in the strengthening of MasterCard’s regional strategy.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Mr. Chari was the Chief Executive Officer of Network International in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Under his leadership, the firm went from strength to strength, spreading its customer reach across 16 countries in the Middle East and Africa; to establish its position as a market leader in the payments industry. Towards the end of his stint, Mr. Chari focused on cultivating sustainable payments solutions in emerging markets across the Middle East, Africa and India.

#MasterCard ‘World Beyond Cash' contest

MasterCard ‘World Beyond Cash’ pan-India contest is a digital competition focusing on innovation. As part of the program, students and young professionals from over 140 leading colleges and institutes are invited to submit their ideas of the world beyond cash- an alternative to cash based transactions. These ideas can be in the form of text, photo, video or script.

Commenting on the concept of contest, Mr. Raja Balasubramanian, vice president, marketing, South Asia, MasterCard, said, “We are excited to announce the ‘World Beyond Cash’ challenge.
MasterCard believes that the world of payments is constantly evolving and that exciting and innovative new ways to pay will emerge over the coming years. This future will definitely be influenced by the Youth, who are technology savvy and creative and they will be the pioneers and early adopters of these new modes of payments. The contest is therefore a platform for the Youth to generate ideas on what the future of payments might hold - ideas that are innovative, cool and witty; and could hold the key to the way we all make payments going forward.”

The early bird winners have been selected by senior MasterCard representatives. The panel of jury consisting of eminent names like Prasoon Joshi, Rama Bijapurkar Georgette Tan and Jye Smith will select the final winners by 7th July. Best entries will be rewarded with exciting gifts like cameras, phones and other accessories. The winners will also receive a certificate of recognition from MasterCard.

MasterCard Reports 40% Growth in Prepaid Business across Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa for 2013

 MasterCard reported a growth of 40% in gross dollar volume, or GDV, for its prepaid card business across Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) for 2013 (y-o-y). This strong growth was fuelled in part by significant partnerships announced over the last couple of years in the region, such as:

An innovative MasterCard mobile companion prepaid card for underserved consumers in India in collaboration with Beam Money
The OneSmart dual-faced loyalty and prepaid card with Air New Zealand, a world first
The next generation Qantas Frequent Flyer MasterCard prepaid card, an Australian first, featuring a combination of loyalty and prepaid card
The first ever prepaid card in Japan for online transactions, the Rakuten Virtual Prepaid MasterCard card
The roll out of MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with the Nigerian government, which comes with prepaid capability embedded in the card and is the largest roll-out of a formal electronic payment solution in the country
A key 3-year exclusive agreement with Majid Al Futtaim Finance LLC to expand MasterCard’s unique prepaid solutions across the Middle East and North Africa region (Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon and Oman)

The momentum for prepaid growth is expected to continue given the potential for driving further financial inclusion in emerging markets as well as the increasing cross border and e-commerce transactions.

Emerging Markets: Hotbed of Innovation
According to Jason Tymms, MasterCard’s Head of Prepaid, Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa, “The needs in emerging markets differ greatly from developed markets and this is proving to be a catalyst for innovation. We find ourselves innovating to meet the most basic of needs which is access to financial services, especially for citizens who sit at the bottom of the financial pyramid.”


In India, MasterCard is launching a mobile companion prepaid card allowing Beam Money consumers to move beyond basic utility payments by connecting their existing mobile wallets to the world of MasterCard acceptance and electronic payments, thus enabling them to carry out e-commerce transactions, make fund transfers, book movie or travel tickets.

In 2012, MasterCard also worked with the State Government of Chhattisgarh and the Central Bank of India to launch a student prepaid card for the distribution of scholarships. This resulted in the speedy disbursement of scholarships as well as safety and convenience for students who received payments through bank ATMs nationwide.

In May last year, MasterCard, in partnership with the Nigerian government, announced the roll out of 13 million National Identity Cards with MasterCard’s prepaid payment technology, the largest formal electronic payment solution in Nigeria and the broadest financial inclusion initiative of its kind in Africa. When using the card as a prepaid payment tool, cardholders can deposit funds on the card, receive social benefits, pay for goods and services, withdraw cash and engage in other financial transactions that are facilitated by electronic payments.

But according to Tymms, innovation is not just happening in emerging markets. “In developed markets such as New Zealand, MasterCard is innovating to meet different needs. For example, MasterCard worked with Air New Zealand to launch the OneSmart dual-faced loyalty and prepaid card, a first in the world,” Tymms said. One side of the card is an Air New Zealand Airpoints loyalty card, equipped with ePass technology that enables cardholders to speed through domestic check-in. Meanwhile, on the other side is a prepaid MasterCard that enables cardholders to load up on foreign currencies as well as lock in the exchange rates.

Similarly in Australia, MasterCard together with Qantas launched the new Qantas Frequent Flyer membership card with a new inbuilt feature, Qantas Cash™, a prepaid facility which allows cardholders to store foreign currency, access cash worldwide via ATM withdrawals, and earn points on spending in Australia and overseas.

But it is not just consumers that are adopting the use of travel prepaid cards. In India, SMEs in the IT services industry especially, are providing travel prepaid cards to their employees who need to travel for international projects. Functioning as a means for paying for their expenses during the term of the overseas stint, prepaid cards also means easier tracking and reconciliation for the SMEs.

The Rise of the China Traveler, and Cross Border Potential
“We are seeing the biggest potential for prepaid growth come out of China given it had the highest number of outbound tourists and amount of overseas spending in the world last year. Coupled with the Chinese’ higher purchasing power, this presents an obvious need for electronic payments acceptance when abroad and multi-currency travel prepaid cards such as the MasterCard Cash Passport fit the bill as it takes away the hassle and risk of carrying a lot of cash while also enabling cardholders to lock in exchange rate at the time of loading to avoid fluctuations,” Tymms added.

Officially the world's biggest spenders, Chinese’ spending on overseas travel increased 28 percent in the first nine months of 2013. In 2012, China became the largest outbound tourism market with 83 million overseas trips, and last year, this number grew even further to 97 million. It is expected that this year, the number will top the 100 million mark, in what will be a historic first – an amazing feat, considering that this number was just 10 million in 2000.

These kinds of numbers represent the enormous opportunity MasterCard is seeing in the areas of cross border transaction and China aside, across emerging markets in Southeast Asia, India and Japan.


E-commerce is also proving to be a key driver for prepaid growth. According to MasterCard’s Online Shopping Survey, besides China (97.8%) which continues to have a strong potential for making online purchases in the next six months, Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam (91.4%) and Thailand (84.2%) are also showing great potential in terms of respondents intending to make an online purchase in the next six months.

India ‘Very Optimistic’ On Employment Prospects: MasterCard’s Latest Index on Consumer Confidence

Despite the recession that has hit the world in recent years, India seems to have come out relatively unscathed and is still seen as a good market for employment. The latest MasterCard IndexTM of Consumer Confidence found that respondents in India are relatively more optimistic about employment prospects in the next six months making it one of the top three countries in the Asia Pacific market. It scored 80.6, behind only to Indonesia and Myanmar which scored 86.3 and 96.8 respectively. India’s position has been stable from the previous round of the survey.
IT hub Bangalore scored the highest with a complete 100, followed by Chennai with 99.1. Mumbai scored the lowest with 50.6, while Delhi’s score was 83.4. Those below 30 years were more optimistic as compared to those above it, with scores of 83.8 and 79.2 respectively. Additionally,

The Employment Prospects sub Index is taken from one of the 5 components of the MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence. Survey participants were asked “Do you expect the employment situation in your country to be better, remain the same or worse over the next 6 months?” Their responses were converted into 0 – 100 optimism range and transformed into the sub-index.
The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Consumer Confidence is based on a survey conducted between April 2013 and May 2013 on 12,205 respondents aged 18 – 64 in 27 countries. This is the 41st survey of Consumer Confidence conducted since 1993.
About the MasterCard Index™ of Consumer Confidence

The MasterCard Index™ of Consumer Confidence survey has a 20-year track record of consumer confidence indices collected from over 200,000 interviews, unequalled both in scope and history across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
The MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence is the most comprehensive and longest running survey of its kind in the region.  In June 1997, the Index revealed a decline in consumer confidence – one month prior to the devaluation of the Thai baht that triggered the regional economic crisis. In June 2003, the Index score for Employment in Hong Kong dropped to a low score of 20.0. This was subsequently reflected in Hong Kong’s unemployment rate, which peaked just before September 2003 at eight percent.
The survey comprising the Asia/Pacific markets began in the first half of 1993 and has been conducted twice yearly since. Markets from the Middle East and Africa were included in the Index from 2004. Twenty seven markets now participate in the survey: Australia, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Africa, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. The latest MasterCard Index of Consumer Confidence survey was conducted from
April to May 2013. A total of 12,205 qualified respondents were surveyed in the 27 markets with the sample being representative of the middle and upper income groups in each market.
The Index is calculated based with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral.  Five economic factors are measured: Employment, the Economy, Regular Income, Stock Market and Quality of Life. The responses are consumers' thoughts on the six months ahead. Data collection was via internet surveys and face to face interviews, with the questionnaire translated to the local language wherever appropriate and necessary.  The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four to five percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.

Now in its 20th year the Index is Asia/Pacific’s most comprehensive and longest running consumer confidence survey. Respondents were asked five questions pertaining to their 6 month outlook on the economy, employment prospects, the local stock market, their regular income prospects and their quality of life. The Index score is calculated with zero as the most pessimistic, 100 as most optimistic and 50 as neutral. The Index and its accompanying reports do not represent MasterCard’s financial performance.
About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone.

MasterCard inaugurates Advanced Analytics Center of Excellence in India

MasterCard has announced the launch of an Advanced Analytics Center of Excellence in India. This new Centre of Excellence will provide world-class data insights to global customers by identifying spending trends derived from the billions of anonymous transactions processed by MasterCard every year, thereby providing a solution for the rapidly growing need of businesses to more effectively leverage big data and analytics,

The Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence has recruited highly qualified analytics talent with payments industry, retail and media experience to provide hands-on support on product development and custom analytics to clients across the world. It is an extension of the MasterCard Advisors’ Advanced Analytics group headquartered in New York that works with financial institutions, merchants, governments and other companies around the world, to more effectively leverage big data and analytics to solve their most pressing business challenges, such as enhancing customer acquisition and loyalty.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Kevin Stanton, President, MasterCard Advisors said: “We are delighted to launch the Advanced Analytics Center of Excellence in India.  MasterCard Advisors has been a global leader in big data technology, analytics and expertise for over 10 years. We feel India is a very important market for MasterCard, rich in analytics talent and expertise that will assist us in delivering big data solutions on broader scale, globally. This new Center of Excellence in India will build on the success we have established around our proprietary processes and expert analysis of global spending trends, which is a key differentiator for MasterCard."

MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide, provides payment-focused consulting, information and outsourcing services to financial institutions and merchants worldwide. With its unparalleled category expertise, deep understanding of customer needs and successful track record in addressing complex challenges throughout the payments lifecycle, MasterCard Advisors delivers customized end-to-end solutions that maximize the value of clients’ cards and payments business. MasterCard Advisors shares the goals and vision of its clients, and works in partnership with them to deliver actionable insights that drive tangible impact and financial gain.

MasterCard Advisors is helping to shape the future of data insights by leveraging billions of anonymised, aggregated transactions in a 10 petabyte data warehouse to help financial institutions, merchants, media and government manage their businesses more effectively. Powered by innovation and scale, the Analytics CoE is poised to drive growth in Advisors global businesses that differentiates MasterCard from its competition.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone