MasterCard posts 38pc jump in e-processing
Dubai, October 28, 2010
MasterCard Worldwide has seen a 38 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of transactions processed through its e-commerce platform – the MasterCard Gateway Service (MiGS) – in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region.
In terms of gross dollar volume, these transactions represented a corresponding 66 per cent increase for the first half of the year.
With 764 million Internet users in the Asia/Pacific region and 1.8 billion Internet users worldwide, e-commerce has become one of the world’s most significant trading channels, a statement said.
The APMEA region is the most vibrant for MasterCard in terms of the usage of MiGS, which processes what are commonly referred to as card-not-present (CNP) transactions, including e-commerce, m-commerce, telephone and mail order transactions as well as electronic bill payments, it added.
“Businesses and consumers around the world have embraced the internet and this has made a wide-ranging impact on the payments landscape,” said Patrick Hayes, vice president of product delivery, MasterCard Worldwide.
“This trend is equally relevant for the Middle East & Levant where consumers have voted heavily in favor of online shopping, given the security, convenience and additional choice that it brings to their shopping experience. In fact, the latest survey on online shopping habits by MasterCard revealed that in the fourth quarter of 2009, the UAE had the highest average online shopping spend in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, of $1,048,” he added.
“In addition to fulfilling the needs of consumers, MiGS also provides merchants with valuable tools for day-to-day management of their e-commerce transactions and reduces operating costs,” Hayes continued.
“Moreover, the widespread use of MiGS by banks across the Middle East and Levant proves that it is successfully contributing to the e-commerce ambitions of the banking sector. The growth is a testimony that the innovative solution resonates with the demands of the local markets in the region,” he concluded. – TradeArabia News Service
