MasterCard and Europay Announce Plan to Combine Into a Global Payments Organization With a Private Share Ownership Structure

Business Wire, June 6, 2001

About Europay International

Europay International, headquartered in Waterloo, Belgium, is Europe's leading payments organisation, dedicated to providing a tailored product range and support services to its more than 9,000 Member banks. At present, over 271 million cards (Eurocard-MasterCard, Maestro, Cirrus and eurocheque) provide European and global debit and credit card services, and offer cash access to Europe's largest network of more than 277,000 ATMs in 43 countries. Through its alliance with MasterCard International, over 580,000 ATMs and more than 19 million retail locations worldwide accept Europay products. Europay's website at www.europay.com gives a detailed view on the company's products and services and shows how Europay offers its Member banks both support and leadership on issues including virtual commerce, chip technology, security & risk management, and the advent of the euro.