MasterCard Europe posted its second-quarter 2009 operating results. It has reported that the European region reported growth in MasterCard gross dollar volume by 2.1%; purchase volume, up 3%; purchase transactions, up 7.2%, and cash transactions, up 4.4%, compared to the second quarter 2008. It has added that from 1 April until 30 June, European cardholders made 1.7 billion purchase transactions with their MasterCard-branded cards, including those made online.
Reportedly, as of 30 June 2009, 196 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customer financial institutions across Europe, up 3.8% compared to the same quarter in 2008.
Javier Perez, president, MasterCard Europe, said: “The fact that, in the face of a severe economic downturn, Europeans have been using their MasterCard-branded cards more often than a year ago is testament to the convenience, control, security and rewards our payment solutions are providing to cardholders. Leveraging our global platform of innovative products – from debit and credit, to prepaid and our contactless MasterCard PayPass system – enabled us to sign these deals.”
