MasterCard 2014 Annual Report Download - page 6

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• issues related to acquisition integration and entry into new businesses; and
• issues related to our Class A common stock and corporate governance structure.
Please see a complete discussion of these risk factors in Part I, Item 1A - Risk Factors. We caution you that the important factors
referenced above may not contain all of the factors that are important to you. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date of this Report or as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements.
PART I
Item 1. Business
Overview
MasterCard is a technology company in the global payments industry that connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants,
governments and businesses worldwide, enabling them to use electronic forms of payment instead of cash and checks. As the
operator of what we believe is the world’s fastest payments network, we facilitate the processing of payment transactions, including
authorization, clearing and settlement, and deliver related products and services. We make payments easier and more efficient by
creating a wide range of payment solutions and services using our family of well-known brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®
and Cirrus®. We also provide value-added offerings such as loyalty and reward programs, information services and consulting.
Our network is designed to ensure safety and security for the global payments system.
A typical transaction on our network involves four participants in addition to us: cardholder, merchant, issuer (the cardholder’s
financial institution) and acquirer (the merchant’s financial institution). We do not issue cards, extend credit, determine or receive
revenue from interest rates or other fees charged to cardholders by issuers, or establish the rates charged by acquirers in connection
with merchants’ acceptance of our branded cards. In most cases, cardholder relationships belong to, and are managed by, our
financial institution customers.
We generate revenue by charging fees to issuers and acquirers for providing transaction processing and other payment-related
products and services, as well as by assessing these customers based primarily on the dollar volume of activity, or gross dollar
volume (“GDV”), on the cards and other devices that carry our brands.
Our Strategy
Our ability to grow our business is influenced by personal consumption expenditure growth, driving cash and checks toward
electronic forms of payment, increasing our share in electronic payments and providing value-added products and services. We
drive growth by growing, diversifying and building our business.
Grow. We focus on growing our core businesses globally, including growing our credit, debit, prepaid and commercial products
and solutions and increasing the number of payment transactions we process.
Diversify. We look to diversify our business by seeking new areas of growth in new and existing markets around the world. We
focus on:
• diversifying our customer base by working with partners such as governments and digital and mobile providers;
• encouraging use of our products and solutions in areas that provide new opportunities for electronic payments, such as
transit and person-to-person transfers;
• driving acceptance at small merchants and merchants who have not historically accepted MasterCard products; and
• broadening financial inclusion for the unbanked and underbanked.
Build. We build our business by:
• taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the ongoing convergence of the physical and digital worlds; and
• using our safety and security products and solutions, data analytics and loyalty solutions to add value.
We build and diversify our business through a combination of organic growth and investments, including acquisitions.