MasterCard close to 2bn euros

The number of merchants accepting payments with Maestro cards doubled in the first half this year. Maestro cards were accepted at 6.500 electronic terminals at the end of H1, while the MasterCard ones were accepted at 9,000 terminals installed at merchants. By the end of June 2003, the market was registering some 2.5 million valid MasterCard and Maestro cards. “The payment cards have now become a mass instrument in Romania and their growing number has put significant pressure on merchants,” says Denisa Mateescu, operational manager of MasterCard Europe. Overall, the volume of transactions involving MasterCard and Maestro cards climbed to 2bn euros throughout June 2002 – June 2003. ZF