MasterCard 2009 Annual Report Download - page 36

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Outside of the United States. Regulators in several countries outside of the United States have become
increasingly interested in payment issues beyond interchange fees, some of which have launched official
proceedings into payment industry issues. See “Risk Factors—Legal and Regulatory Risks” in Part I, Item 1A.
Seasonality
See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—
Seasonality” in Part II, Item 7 for a discussion of the impact of seasonality on our business.
Financial Information About Geographic Areas
See Note 24 (Segment Reporting) to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 for
certain geographic financial information.
Employees
As of December 31, 2009, we employed approximately 5,100 persons, of which approximately 1,800 were
employed outside of the United States. We consider our relationship with employees to be good.
Website and SEC Reports
The Company’s internet address is www.mastercard.com. Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports are available, without
charge, for review on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with, or furnished to, the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The information contained on our website is not
incorporated by reference into this Report.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
Legal and Regulatory Risks
Interchange fees are subject to increasingly intense legal, regulatory and legislative scrutiny worldwide,
which may have a material adverse impact on our revenue, our prospects for future growth and our overall
business, financial condition and results of operations.
Interchange fees, which represent a sharing of payment system costs among the financial institutions
participating in a four-party payment card system such as ours, are generally the largest component of the costs
that acquirers charge merchants in connection with the acceptance of payment cards. Typically, interchange fees
are paid by the merchant bank (the acquirer) to the cardholder bank (the issuer) in connection with transactions
initiated with our payment system’s cards. Interchange fees, including our default interchange fees, are subject to
increasingly intense litigation, regulatory and legislative scrutiny worldwide as card-based forms of payment
have become relatively more important to local economies. Regulators and legislative bodies in a number of
countries, as well as merchants in the United States, are seeking to reduce these fees through litigation, regulatory
action and/or legislative action.
See Note 21 (Legal and Regulatory Proceedings) to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II,
Item 8 for a detailed description of regulatory proceedings and inquiries into interchange fees. Examples of
regulatory proceedings or inquiries into interchange fees include:
• In the European Union, in December 2007, the European Commission issued a negative decision (which
we have appealed to the General Court of the European Union) with respect to our cross-border
interchange fees for credit and debit cards under European Union competition rules.
26