New Delhi: MasterCard International has announced strong performance results for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2004. It has attributed its performance to the improved global economic activity, which led to double-digit purchase volume growth worldwide. Total purchases on MasterCard credit and offline debit cards rose 11.7 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2003, and the number of MasterCard cards issued around the world rose to 638.3 million.

According to Robert W. Selander, president and CEO, MasterCard, "Many of the issues that limited economic growth last year are behind us, and we''ve seen stronger purchase activity across our global network as more confident consumers increased spending. Also this quarter, our Asia / Pacific region reported growth in gross dollar volume (GDV) up for the first time in 18 months reflecting renewed consumer confidence in the region."

Performance highlights for the second quarter and first half of 2004 include:

• Cardholders across the globe used MasterCard-branded cards for almost 4.1 billion transactions, generating GDV of $349.0 billion in the second quarter of 2004, an increase of 9.2 per cent over the same period in 2003. In the first six months of 2004, transactions reached 7.8 billion, generating GDV of $680.8 billion, an 8.8 per cent gain over the same period in 2003. GDV includes both purchase and cash volume;
• MasterCard''s almost 25,000 customer financial institutions around the world had issued more than 638.3 million MasterCard-branded cards, a 6.4 per cent increase over the same six-month period in 2003;
• The value of purchases on MasterCard-branded cards, a significant measure of success, continued to show double-digit growth worldwide. Globally, purchase volume rose 11.7 per cent to $257.1 billion for the second quarter of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003. Purchase volume was $500.4 billion for the first six months of 2004, a 12.4 per cent increase from the same period in 2003.

MasterCard''s GDV for credit programmes worldwide grew 10.6 per cent to $285.9 billion compared to the same period in 2003. For the first six months of 2004, GDV worldwide for MasterCard credit programmes rose 10.3 per cent to $558.9 billion compared to the same period in 2003. Currently, cardholders can use their MasterCard cards at more than 22 million locations around the world.