"Mastercard enables the cashless economy with 1392mn debit and 974mn credit cards active worldwide."

Society as a whole benefits from higher systemic efficiency of ubiquitous payment solutions. They improve consumer accessibility, add flexibility to their choices and introduce globally interoperable standards in any country/territory¹⁴. Cashless payments are the most popular¹². Research by Yakian finds them to benefit businesses, consumers, and governments in many ways^13;p1. They are also fast and typically more secure¹². Conducive initiatives taken by various governments have resulted in increased transactions through point-of-sale machines and e-wallets¹⁰. The COVID-19 pandemic has also seen a surge in cashless payments¹¹. Due to changing lifestyles, rapid growth in online retailing, and convenience of daily commerce, this trend is expected to continue¹⁰.

Mastercard is a payments and technology company present in 210 countries with 37mn merchants^7,8. It works with banks, financial institutions and credit unions to provide card products and digital payment solutions⁹. It owns 31.3% of the global market share by card network and is the second-largest player behind Visa at 48.8%³. As of March 2021, Mastercard has 249mn credit cards being used in the US and 725mn credit cards in the rest of the world¹. Its debit cards can be quantified as 345mn in the US and 1,047mn in the rest of the world as of Q2 2021².

The global purchase volume for goods and services via cards issued by the leading card brands – American Express, Diners Club/Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa – generated US$29.780tn in 2019, of which Mastercard’s share was US$4.767tn, i.e., 16% of the transacted amount overall⁴. In 2017, the company had 85mn users of its Masterpass digital payment service, which also allows access to consumers of other card brands on its platform^5,6.

With an expansive card network and possibly the only inclusive digital presence among the market leaders, Mastercard is empowering the global cashless economy by providing people the means to make safe and simple payments.

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