MasterCard announced generally very positive earnings yesterday. In their call, there was more depth of conversation around the news revealed earlier in April that China would be opening up its payment infrastructure to foreign payment networks. This could have a significant impact on MasterCard debit card volume as the China market is much more debit-centric, however there were many points made to suggest that we keep the excitement in check; The process of gaining access, negotiating licensing with the government and establishing “on-soil” operations will not happen overnight. Although the debit market is very large, it will require concerted effort to make it as attractive a market as other geographies. Most debit cards in China are dormant, and for those cards in use, the most frequent card transaction is to get cash out of ATMS not or POS purchases
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
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