MasterCard records growth

JAKARTA (JP): MasterCard International announced on Wednesday that the number of people holding its Maestro/Cirrus debit card had grown by 73 percent to 7.9 million in 1999, up from 4.6 million in 1998.

Country manager for MasterCard International in Indonesia Bambang Gunawan said the high growth was driven particularly by extended commitments to the card by some major local banks, including Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Central Asia and Bank International Indonesia.

"Consumers are attracted to Maestro/Cirrus because it offers security protection not found in other debit card products," he said.

The company also announced that Lippo Bank had chosen to stop issuing Maestro/Cirrus cards, shifting to a signature-based product for point-of-sale functionality.

The company earlier predicted transaction values using Maestro debit cards to surge sevenfold in 1999 from US$1 billion in 1998.

Maestro/Cirrus debit cards can be used at over 479,000 automated teller machines and over four million point of sale terminals worldwide. (cst)