Purchase, NY, April 5, 2016 – MasterCard today announced the appointment of Raj Seshadri as president, U.S. Issuers.  In this new role, she will be responsible for managing and expanding the company’s partnerships with banks and credit unions across the U.S. market.

“Raj brings a unique balance of analytical thinking and business-building creativity,” said Craig Vosburg, president, North American Markets.  “Her proven strategic, leadership and customer-oriented capabilities across multiple industries will help MasterCard continue to be a strong partner to our issuers in an increasingly dynamic payments marketplace.”

Most recently, Seshadri was a managing director at Blackrock, leading the company’s iShares U.S. retail ETF business. Under her leadership, the business posted industry-leading growth through product, brand and distribution enhancements. Earlier in her career, Seshadri held roles at Citigroup in global strategy and small business banking; U.S. Trust in marketing, strategy and M&A; McKinsey & Company; and AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Seshadri received a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College in physics and mathematics, a Masters of Business Administration from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. While at Harvard, she was the recipient of the prestigious Luise Meyer-Schützmeister Award, given annually to the top U.S. female physicist. Seshadri also serves as an adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she teaches marketing of financial services.

“For years, I have seen the impact that MasterCard has made by bringing innovative products and solutions to the market. I look forward to building on that foundation, helping our issuing partners successfully grow their businesses while strengthening relationships with their customers,” said Seshadri.

Seshadri will join MasterCard on April 11 and will become a member of the company’s Management Committee.

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About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

Contact:
Jim Issokson
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914-249-6286

Multi-layered Partnership Focuses on Aid Delivery, Industry Research, Fundraising and Advocacy to Reach More People in Need

Purchase, NY and Monrovia, CA – April 4, 2016 – MasterCard and World Vision today signed a multi-layered partnership agreement in which MasterCard will apply its expertise, products and services in support of World Vision’s efforts to tackle key challenges impacting the humanitarian sector.

International humanitarian aid assistance continues to grow, reaching an all-time high last year. Yet, at a time of unprecedented humanitarian crises, it is insufficient in meeting the needs of the millions of people affected by poverty, political turmoil and natural disasters every year.

“Effectiveness and sustainability are two of the most pressing issues facing humanitarian organizations,” said Ann Cairns, president, International Markets, MasterCard. “We’re increasingly using our core expertise to create innovative solutions with NGOs like World Vision that address these pain points and better support those affected by poverty and emergencies around the world. We believe this partnership can serve as a blueprint for private and non-profit organizations working together to create mutually beneficial and sustainable solutions for some of the world’s most challenging issues.”

“Responding to disasters and meeting humanitarian needs is a shared responsibility,” says Kevin Jenkins, president, World Vision International.  “World Vision values partnerships like this that aim to move the relationship between NGOs and private enterprises from transactional to transformational.  We want to harness each other’s experience, skills and technology to reach more people in more effective innovative and efficient ways.”

Through the partnership, MasterCard and World Vision are improving humanitarian aid delivery via digital identity and electronic payment technology, including World Vision’s Last Mile Mobile Solutions (LMMS) and the MasterCard Aid Network. MasterCard partnered with World Vision to test both systems in the Philippines to help micro-entrepreneurs rebuild businesses after Typhoon Haiyan. World Vision also began using LMMS and MasterCard Aid Network in Nepal, following last year’s earthquake, to deliver a wide range of services, food assistance and equipment.

Going forward, MasterCard and World Vision also plan to partner on fundraising and advocacy opportunities, as well as joint industry research and consulting on topics ranging from digital identity to financial education for beneficiaries to data management and protection.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), http://www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

About World Vision

World Vision International, wvi.org/disaster-management, is a Christian relief, advocacy and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.  World Vision International is dedicated to working with the world’s most vulnerable people.  World Vision International serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.  World Vision is currently responding to more than 20 humanitarian crises, in over 35 countries, assisting more than nine million people.  Follow us on Twitter @wv_humanitarian.

For further enquiries and interview requests please contact:

Marisa Grimes

MasterCard

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Mobile: +1 914 325 8367 (New York)

Tanya Penny

World Vision International

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Mobile: +971 50 550 5803 (Dubai)

PURCHASE, N.Y. – March 31, 2016 – Americans are quickly embracing EMV chip cards, just six months after the latest milestone in the migration timeline. While consumers increasingly dip their cards to pay in-store, progress has been made by both card issuers and merchants.

MasterCard’s Craig Vosburg on EMV momentum at CNBC Squawk Alley

Today, MasterCard provided an update on how its cardholders, partners and customers are adopting the safer, more secure EMV chip technology:

“Chip technology is an essential upgrade to better protect consumers and businesses,” said Catherine Murchie, senior vice president of North American Enterprise Security Solutions for MasterCard. “Other countries that have already adopted chips have seen significant reductions in counterfeit card fraud over time – as much as 60, 70 or even 80 percent. The U.S. industry continues to work together on EMV to generate similar results.”

MasterCard introduced its EMV and future of payments roadmap more than four years ago. Since then, the company has worked with merchants, financial institutions, acquirers, processors, terminal manufacturers and other industry players to prepare for these technology enhancements.

In 2015, the Payments Security Task Force projected that 98 percent of cards issued in the U.S. would feature chip technology by the end of 2017. This would top adoption rates by regions and countries that began implementing chip technology decades ago. Merchant EMV terminals adoption continues on track as projected in other Payment Security Task Force studies.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

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MasterCard Media Contact:

Beth Kitchener

Office: 914-249-2058

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By Shaomei Wu, Software Engineer and Hermes Pique, Software Engineer on iOS and Jeffrey Wieland, Head of Accessibility

Every day, people share more than 2 billion photos across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

While visual content provides a fun and expressive way for people to communicate online, consuming and creating it poses challenges for people who are blind or severely visually impaired. With more than 39 million people who are blind, and over 246 million who have a severe visual impairment, many people may feel excluded from the conversation around photos on Facebook. We want to build technology that helps the blind community experience Facebook the same way others enjoy it.

That’s why today we’re introducing automatic alternative text.

Automatic alternative text, or automatic alt text, is a new development that generates a description of a photo using advancements in object recognition technology. People using screen readers on iOS devices will hear a list of items a photo may contain as they swipe past photos on Facebook. Before today, people using screen readers would only hear the name of the person who shared the photo, followed by the term “photo” when they came upon an image in News Feed. Now we can offer a richer description of what’s in a photo thanks to automatic alt text. For instance, someone could now hear, “Image may contain three people, smiling, outdoors.”

This is possible because of Facebook’s object recognition technology, which is based on a neural network that has billions of parameters and is trained with millions of examples. Each advancement in object recognition technology means that the Facebook Accessibility team will be able to make technology even more accessible for more people. When people are connected, they can achieve extraordinary things as individuals and as a community — and when everyone is connected, we all benefit.

We are launching automatic alt text first on iOS screen readers set to English, but we plan to add this functionality for other languages and platforms soon. While this technology is still nascent, tapping its current capabilities to describe photos is an important step toward providing our visually impaired community the same benefits and enjoyment that everyone else gets from photos.

Read more about the development of automatic alt text here and here.

Learn more in our Help Center and at facebook.com/accessibility.

PURCHASE, N.Y.- On Thursday, April 28, 2016, MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) will release its first-quarter financial results. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time.

The dial-in information for this call is 866-393-4306 (within the U.S.) and 734-385-2616 (outside the U.S.), and the passcode is 81063498. A replay of the call will be available for 30 days and can be accessed by dialing 855-859-2056 (within the U.S.) and 404-537-3406 (outside the U.S.), and using passcode 81063498.

This call can also be accessed through the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.mastercard.com/investor.

About MasterCard Incorporated

MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

MasterCard Incorporated
Investor Relations:
Matt Lanford, 914-249-4565
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or
Media Relations:
Seth Eisen, 914-249-3153
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