MasterCard 2009 Annual Report Download - page 23

sector entities a variety of payment programs that are similar to the travel, purchasing, fleet and Multi Card
programs offered to corporations. The MasterCard BusinessCard®, the Debit MasterCard BusinessCard™, the
World MasterCard for Business™ and the World Elite MasterCard for Business®are targeted at the small-
business segment, offering business owners the ability to gain access to working capital, to extend payments and
to separate business expenses from personal expenses. MasterCard also has developed programs that aim to
facilitate paperless end-to-end corporate purchasing for organizations ranging from small businesses to large
corporations. Such programs include the MasterCard Payment Gateway®(processing payments between buyers,
sellers and financial institutions), MasterCard ExpenSys®(expense reporting), MasterCard Smart Data
(management reporting) and MasterCard Travel Dashboard®(travel and expenses reporting), as well as tools to
facilitate integration into enterprise planning systems.
Emerging Technologies. MasterCard contributes to innovation in the payments industry through numerous
initiatives, including developments in the areas of electronic commerce, smart cards, mobile commerce,
person-to-person payments, corporate electronic payments, transit and emerging technologies. MasterCard
encourages new initiatives in the area of electronic commerce by researching and developing (or otherwise
acquiring) a range of technologies designed to offer business opportunities to MasterCard and our customers.
MasterCard manages smart card development by working with our customers to help them replace traditional
payment cards relying solely on magnetic stripe technology with chip-enabled payment cards that offer additional
point-of-sale functionality and the ability to provide value-added services to the cardholder. We are also involved in
a number of organizations that facilitate the development and use of smart cards globally, including a smart cards
standards organization with other participants in the industry that maintains standards and specifications designed to
ensure interoperability and acceptance of chip-based payment applications on a worldwide basis. By working with
customers and leading technology companies, MasterCard also encourages new initiatives in the area of mobile
commerce and wireless payment development such as contactless payment solutions (including MasterCard
PayPass), mobile payment and payment-related information services and person-to-person transfers (including our
money transfer program, MasterCard MoneySend™). In the area of corporate payments between buyers and
suppliers, MasterCard offers a payment processing platform supporting card and electronic funds transfer payments.
We have also developed an innovative transit platform solution that leverages the contactless functionality in cards
and other devices to enable MasterCard acceptance in low-value, high-volume merchant environments. MasterCard
is also working to develop standards and programs that will allow consumers to conduct their financial transactions
securely using a variety of new point-of-interaction devices.
In addition, in December 2008, MasterCard acquired Orbiscom Ltd., a leading payments solutions software
provider for financial institutions. The acquisition builds on the existing partnership between MasterCard and
Orbiscom that created MasterCard inControl™, an innovative platform featuring an array of advanced
authorization, transaction routing and alert controls designed to assist financial institutions in creating new and
enhanced payment offerings.
Customer Relationship Management
We are committed to providing our customers with coordinated services through integrated, dedicated
account teams in a manner that allows us to take advantage of our expertise in payment programs, marketing,
product development, technology, processing and consulting and information services. We have implemented an
internal process to manage our relationships with our customers on a global and regional basis to ensure that their
priorities are consistently identified and incorporated into our product, brand, processing, technology and related
strategies.
We enter into business agreements pursuant to which we offer customers financial incentives and other
support benefits to issue and promote our branded cards. Financial incentives may be based on GDV or other
performance-based criteria, such as issuance of new cards, launch of new programs or execution of marketing
initiatives. We believe that our business agreements with customers have contributed to our strong volume and
revenue growth in recent years. In addition, we have standard licensing arrangements with all of our customers
that permit them to use our trademarks and subject them to the rules governing our payment programs.
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