Today, we announced our financial results for the fourth-quarter and full-year 2011, and I’m pleased to report that MasterCard’s performance reflects continued strength across all our major markets.

In short, 2011 was an excellent year for MasterCard.

Despite ongoing economic uncertainties, we sustained momentum – winning new business and benefiting from the ongoing global shift from cash toward electronic payments.

On today’s quarterly conference call, CEO Ajay Banga and I discussed Q4 highlights. Here are just a few:

• Net revenue grew 20% versus the same period in 2010, helping to fuel growth in earnings per share of 27.5%.
• Gross dollar volume increased 18.3% and purchase volume increased 15.2%.
• We processed 7.7 billion transactions, up 23.2% over the same period in 2010.

We also shared recent business successes that strengthen our position in developed markets and pave the way for growth in emerging ones. In the U.S., we just announced an agreement with KeyBank to add PIN debit cards, deals with nearly 150 independent banks and credit unions, and new U.S. public-sector prepaid program wins with the State of California, New York State and Oklahoma.

In Africa, we signed an MOU with Ecobank Group to drive prepaid and debit growth across 31 markets, a business agreement with Zenith Bank in Nigeria, and new deals with several other banks. Just today, we announced the opening of our new East African regional headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

In Russia, we will be working with MTS, the market’s largest mobile network operator; and in China, we signed an MOU with China Unicom.

We continue our focus on driving value for merchants, including recent expanded relationships with Toys ‘R Us, two major automotive brands, Casino (a top 5 mass retailer in France), and extending our PayPass acceptance network globally.

And we outlined several new alliances – Western Union, Telefónica, Intel and mFoundry – that reinforce MasterCard’s commitment to delivering the benefits of electronic payments to more people and more institutions in more places.

It was a terrific year for MasterCard, thanks to the hard work of our employees, the commitment of our customers, the support of our partners, the assistance of our merchants, and the loyalty of our cardholders.

All of us are extremely enthusiastic about MasterCard’s growing role in enabling the migration to a world beyond cash – a world that increasingly values the simplicity, security and convenience of electronic payments.

If you’re interested in additional details about our fourth quarter and full-year 2011 financial results, please take a look at our press release or listen to a replay of our conference call.

Categories: News and Views

Tags: Alliances, Company news, Financial performance, Investor Relations