MasterCard has announced that Richard Haythornthwaite, a member of the MasterCard Board of Directors, has been elected as the non-executive chairman of its board, effective immediately. Mr. Haythornthwaite is a managing director of UK-based Star Capital Partners. In addition, Steven J. Freiberg, chairman and chief executive officer of Citigroup's Global Consumer Group NA, and co-chair of Citigroup's Global Consumer Group, has been elected a director of the MasterCard Board of Directors.   » Continue Reading

MasterCard has announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend to holders of shares of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock, the first dividend to be declared by the company since its initial public offering earlier this year. The company said an initial cash dividend of nine cents per share will be paid on November 10, 2006 to holders of record of its Class A common stock and Class B common stock as of October 10, 2006. Based upon MasterCard's approximately 135 million shares reported to be outstanding, the total dividend amount being paid would be a bit over $12 million.

APACS, the UK payments association, has published a new report titled "The Way We Pay: UK Cash and Cash Machines" reporting that the number of UK cash machines has more than doubled in the past six years (from 27,379 in 1999 to 58,286 in 2005) and that Britons make the largest number of cash machine withdrawals of any country in the EU, some 2.7 billion transactions in 2005, or more than 42 per person.   » Continue Reading

Washington Mutual and ESPN have launched the ESPN Total Access Visa Card and they're calling it "the most comprehensive affinity credit card for sports fans ever." The card allows fans to earn rewards tied to their enthusiasm for sports, and "provides unique access to a wide range of sporting events and VIP experiences that only ESPN can provide."   » Continue Reading

Cards & Payments Editor Jeffrey Green interviews Henry C. "Ric" Duques, chairman and CEO of First Data Corp.

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