MasterCard is popular for its debit and credit cards, but the American multinational financial service corporation, which has its headquarters in New York, considers itself to be a technology company in the global payments segment.
Through the transactions that everyone makes, MasterCard has indeed become a part of everyone’s life. Here we present 32 super interesting facts about MasterCard that you should know. Read on to know more.
- Started as “Interbank”: MasterCard, as it is popularly known today, was initially called the Interbank and then rechristened as Master Charge: The Interbank Card. It was introduced in the year 1966 by an association called the Interbank Card Association (ICA). This association was formed by banks like United California Bank, Wells Fargo, First National City Bank, Crocker National Bank, Bank of California and Marine Midland Bank.
- Introduction in the European market: The year 1968 saw the ICA and the EuroCard forming an alliance, which opened doors for the acceptance of the Master Charge in the European markets.
- Alliance with the Access card: In 1972, the British Access card also joined the alliance with ICA, thereby allowing Master Charger to spread its wings in the United Kingdom.
- Rechristened as MasterCard: The Master Changer as the card was initially known as was renamed as the MasterCard in 1979.
- Introduced the laser hologram: MasterCard was the first company to introduce the laser hologram in 1983 and this was done to pull a stop on counterfeit cards.
- Three magnetic strips: Every MasterCard has three magnetic strips, holds different categories of information like the cardholder’s personal details in one, account-related information in the second one and the third stores information related to the usage of ATM.
- Entry into the Chinese market: In 1988, Mastercard entered the People’s Republic of China as the first payment card.
- Maestro International launched: The joint venture between EuroCard and MasterCard in 1992 saw the launch of the Maestro International card.
- The short lifespan of the Maestro International card: In 2002, EuroCard came under the umbrella brand of Mastercard, as the companies merged to become a single company.
- Acquisition of the Access card: In 1996 MasterCard acquired the British Access.
- Introduction of the MasterCard Advisors: In 2001, MasterCard introduced the MasterCard Advisors, to focus on the payments industry.
- Launch of the IPO: From an association that performed as a bank cooperative, MasterCard launched its first IPO in 2006. The stock price which started at $39, saw an increase of 2000% within a short time span of about a decade!
- Innovations in electronic payment mode: With the aspirations of bringing in innovations in the electronic payment mode, the MasterCard labs was introduced in 2010.
- Acquisition of DataCash Group plc: The year 2010 also saw the company acquiring DataCash Group plc, in its effort to expand its e-commerce payment solution.
- Antitrust litigations: As compared to any other company, MasterCard and Visa INC faces the highest number of antitrust litigations than any other company. According to reports, the ATM access fees was fixed by these two companies.
- Lawsuit settled for a record figure: A number of retailers filed a lawsuit, which was settled by the federal court in 2012 at a record settlement amount of $5.7 billion!
- Earns through every transaction: Every time a user makes a payment through MasterCard, the company makes an earning as transaction processing fee, or a domestic assessment fee or cross border volume fee in case of cross border transactions.
- Other Revenues: Another segment of revenue, called “Other Revenues” is earned by the company in the form of earnings from services provided like fraud protection services, reward programs, to name a few.
- Whopping figures generated through the other revenue segment: MasterCard generates an approximate revenue of $724 million through the other services that it provides to its users.
- Banknet, operated by MasterCard: Banknet is a global telecommunications network that links the card users, acquirers and also the data processing centers into a single financial network.
- MasterCard promotes sports: The company is a sponsor for major sporting events, which includes the UEFA Champions League, the Canadian Hockey League’s Memorial Cup, and also the Australian Cricket team.
- Part of Formula One: In 1997, MasterCard was also a part of Formula One. However, due to the ongoing financial crisis at that time, the company had to withdraw itself from the event.
- Parted ways from FIFA World Cup: MasterCard also withdrew its sponsorship contract with the FIFA World Cup in 2007. The contract was bagged by its rival, Visa almost immediately.
- Collaboration with Apple: MasterCard joined hands with Apple in 2014 to launch a new wallet feature, exclusively for the users of the new iPhone models. The wallet would allow the users to use not just the MasterCard but also other credit cards.
- Partnership with British Airways: MasterCard announced its partnership with British Airways in the year 2013.
- Special benefits for members: With the partnership between MasterCard and British Airways, the members were offered the Executive Club Multi-currency Cash Passport, using which the members would receive points and also make multi-currency payments.
- Wide coverage: MasterCard is distributed in 210 countries, 35.9 million locations, 150 currencies and in 53 languages.
- Userbase: MasterCard boasts of having a user base of 1.9 billion.
- Massive transactions processed: It is estimated that MasterCard processes $3.6 trillion worth transactions per year, which is about $65,068 per minute amount.
- Usage in the United States: An average of 200 million credit cards are used every day in the United States alone!
- High security: MasterCard offers an amazing security system as well as a backup of data.
- Launched mobile app Qkr: MasterCard launched the mobile application, Qkr to order goods and services and make payment through the linked credit card on a smartphone.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHohbfZNZaI
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