MasterCard 2009 Annual Report Download - page 60

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• Our customers may restrict credit lines to cardholders or limit the issuance of new cards to mitigate
increasing cardholder defaults.
• Uncertainty and volatility in the performance of our customers’ businesses may make estimates of our
revenues, rebates, incentives and realization of prepaid assets less predictable.
• Our customers may implement cost reduction initiatives that reduce or eliminate payment card
marketing or increase requests for greater incentives or greater cost stability.
• Our customers may decrease spending for optional or enhanced services.
• Government intervention and/or investments in our customers may have potential negative effects on
our business with those banking institutions or otherwise alter their strategic direction away from our
products.
• Tightening of credit availability could impact the ability of participating financial institutions to lend to
us under the terms of our credit facility.
• Our customers may default on their settlement obligations. See Note 22 (Settlement and Travelers
Cheque Risk Management) to the consolidated financial statements included in Part II, Item 8 for
further discussion of our settlement exposure.
• Our business and prospects, as well as our revenue and profitability, could be materially and adversely
affected by consolidation of our customers. See “Consolidation or other changes affecting the banking
industry could result in a loss of business for MasterCard and may result in lower prices and/or more
favorable terms for our customers, which may materially and adversely affect our revenues and
profitability” in Part I, Item 1A.
In addition, our business is subject to regulation in many countries. Regulatory bodies may seek to impose
rules and price controls on certain aspects of our business and the payments industry. For example, see Note 21
(Legal and Regulatory Proceedings) to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8, for a
discussion of global interchange proceedings.
Our strategy is to continue to grow by further penetrating our existing customer base and by expanding our
role in targeted geographies and higher-growth segments of the global payments industry (such as premium/
affluent, quick-service/low value, commercial/small business, debit, prepaid and issuer and acquirer processor
services), pursuing domestic processing opportunities throughout the world, enhancing our merchant
relationships, expanding points of acceptance for our brands, seeking to maintain unsurpassed acceptance and
continuing to invest in our brands. We also intend to pursue incremental payment processing opportunities
throughout the world. We are committed to providing our customers with coordinated services through integrated
and dedicated account teams in a manner that allows us to capitalize on our expertise in payment programs,
marketing, product development, technology, processing and consulting and information services for these
customers. By investing in strong customer relationships over the long term, we believe that we can increase our
volume of business with customers over time.
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