MasterCard has announced a multi-year contract extension with OptumHealth Inc.'s OptumHealth Bank to issue MasterCard cards for health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), including the accounts they manage for UnitedHealthcare members. The OptumHealth MasterCard cards can be used as a form of payment, tied to these tax-advantaged accounts, for eligible medical expenses, such as copayments, deductibles, prescriptions, vision care and certain over-the-counter items. READ MORE

In an article titled "Investors Bet on Payments via Cellphone", Claire Cain Miller and Matt Richtel write for the New York Times about Obopay (and MasterCard's MoneySend launched last week with Obopay), Boku, Zong and PayPal.

[Editor's note: one facet of a couple of these services that the article's authors fail to note is the cost of payment acceptance - and how that cost varies from service to service. In some segments - such as virtual goods where merchants have a close to zero cost of goods sold - merchants can afford to pay a lot to gain widespread acceptance on cell phones. Other merchants, with real costs of goods sold, would find the costs of these approaches out of the question. There's a similar story when it comes to person-to-person money transfer. For domestic transfers in the US, there's a certain cost sensitivity. For international remittances involving currency conversion, on the other hand, there's a much greater opportunity to price for value. Need help understanding all of this? Drop us a note here!]

MasterCard has announced it has appointed Ajay Banga President and Chief Operating Officer, reporting to Robert W. Selander, currently President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Selander will continue to serve as Chief Executive Officer after Mr. Banga joins MasterCard on August 31, 2009.

Mr. Banga is currently Citigroup's Chief Executive Officer of Citi Asia Pacific, responsible for all of Citi's business lines in the region including credit cards and consumer banking, institutional banking, wealth management and alternative investments. READ MORE

Ukash has announced that it is partnering with MasterCard and will help facilitate the launch of the MasterCard rePower service in Europe - a service that allows consumers to load cash onto their MasterCard and Maestro prepaid cards at Point-of-Sale (POS) locations. READ MORE

Earlier today, MasterCard CEO Bob Selander spoke at the J.P. Morgan 37th Annual Global Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.

MasterCard has announced "a marketing and consumer education campaign that speaks directly to U.S. Hispanic consumers. As part of its ongoing efforts to educate consumers about the value of its myriad of payment products, MasterCard released a new 30-second Spanish language Priceless commercial entitled “Quebradita.” The commercial emphasizes how consumers can better manage their money through the use of debit and prepaid MasterCard cards. Translated as “little break,” quebradita is a modern, acrobatic Latin American dance style recognizable by its western clothing, hat tricks and daring flips." READ MORE

MasterCard Advisors has published a new edition of its newsletter, The Advisor. This issue is a special edition that offers strategies and tacties to US credit card issuers to "survive the current financial crisis in the short term and to retool for renewed profitability in a new era of more responsible spending."

MasterCard has announced that its "fully-integrated, on-demand person-to-person (P2P) mobile payment platform for issuers in the United States is set to go live later this month. With this new platform, MasterCard participating bank customers will be able to offer Mobile MasterCard MoneySend(TM) P2P payments to their customers." READ MORE

MasterCard this morning has launched a new Twitter feed this morning.

MasterCard is holding an investment community meeting today. The meeting is being webcast beginning at 9 AM Eastern. Copies of the presentation slides are available online.

Obopay has announced the Obopay Family Account that "lets parents send money to their children -- or any family member -- instantly from any mobile phone. With Obopay's Family Account, parents get an Obopay Family Prepaid MasterCard issued by The Bancorp Bank for any child at least 13 years old, which can be used in-person, online or by phone with any merchant that accepts MasterCard debit cards." READ MORE

Oberthur Technologies has announced that it has deployed its FlyBuy contactless stickers to three banks internationally, including one of the largest card issuers in the United States. The sticker is the latest evolution in Oberthur Technologies' work into the development of contactless payment and form factors. READ MORE

Over on the American Banker's BankThink blog, Maria Aspan asks what does swing flu have to do with MasterCard's and Visa's financial results? On last week's analysts' calls, both the Visa and MasterCard CEOs were asked about the potential impact.

MasterCard Incorporated has announced financial results for the first quarter 2009 reporting that net revenue was $1.2 billion, a 2.2% decline versus the same period in 2008. MasterCard's gross dollar volume was up 0.3%, on a local currency basis, versus the first quarter of 2008, to $550 billion. Worldwide purchase volume during the quarter was also up 0.3% on a local currency basis versus the first quarter of 2008, to $411 billion. Purchase volume in the US declined 8% in the quarter with a 17% decline in credit and charge card volume in the US. The number of processed transactions increased 5.8% compared to the same period in 2008, to 5.1 billion. A presentation on the financial results is available online. READ MORE

MasterCard Worldwide has announced a multi-year contract extension with Fifth Third Bank for it to continue its partnership with MasterCard, issuing Credit and Debit MasterCard cards for both consumers and corporations. READ MORE

MasterCard Worldwide has announced that the U.S. Postal Service and Dunkin' Donuts have joined the list of merchants that provide small businesses with automatic discounts and savings through the MasterCard Easy Savings Program. Eligible MasterCard business credit and signature debit, U.S. cardholders enrolled in the program will now receive an automatic 5 percent rebate on Click 'N Ship purchases made with the United States Postal Service at usps.com, and an automatic 5 percent rebate on purchases at Dunkin' Donuts. READ MORE

MasterCard Worldwide has announced that Circle K is now accepting MasterCard PayPass at select stores across the U.S. "With a simple tap of a MasterCard PayPass card or device at checkout, Circle K customers can now purchase their everyday items more quickly and conveniently." READ MORE

MasterCard Canada, in partnership with Citi Cards Canada and Bell Mobility, has completed the first near-field communications (NFC) trial of Mobile PayPass in Canada. The four month long closed trial allowed participants to use Bell Mobility's wireless network to make purchases using their mobile device at MasterCard PayPass acceptance locations across Canada. READ MORE

MasterCard has announced that the MasterCard ATM Hunter application is now available as a free download on the Apple iTunes App Store. ATM Hunter lets iPhone and iPod touch users easily locate the nearest ATM no matter where in the world they are. READ MORE

In an article titled "MasterCard Readies TV Push for Prepaid", Maria Aspan writes about MasterCard's plans to launch a consumer advertising campaign ("Everyday Prepaid") promoting reloadable (aka "network-branded") prepaid cards. One of the objectives of the campaign is to establish the Everyday Prepaid as the term consumers should think of versus the complex taxonomy of labels the industry uses to apply to prepaid cards.

In an article titled "Interac in a fight for its life", Theresa Ebden writes for Canada's Globe & Mail about how Visa and MasterCard are challenging Interac in Canada for debit card business. Merchants are concerned that debit card acceptance costs will increase if Visa and MasterCard are successful selling their debit card products to Canadian bank issuers.

Travelex has introduced the Corporate Cash Passport which it says "will allow companies to centralize and better manage their travel budgets while reducing administrative waste, providing auditing capabilities, increasing security and ultimately saving money. The card is loadable with U.S. Dollars and has the MasterCard Brand Mark and bearing MasterCard protections such as Purchase Assurance Service and Lost Luggage Service while allowing the card to be used anywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted and at ATMs around the world to withdraw cash in local currency." READ MORE

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the appointment of Vicky S. Bindra, 44, as president, Asia/Pacific Middle East Africa region. Mr. Bindra, who will join MasterCard on June 1, 2009, replaces Andre Sekulic, 58, who is retiring. READ MORE

In remarks given to a press conference yesterday, Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, noted that with MasterCard's changes to its interchange fees in Europe, "the aim of the new MIFs to be applied by MasterCard is that a merchant's costs in accepting card payments should be no higher than the benefits from avoiding receiving cash." Yesterday, MasterCard announced new interchange fees for cross-border transactions on consumer credit card transactions at 0.3% and at 0.2% for its consumer debit card transactions.

MasterCard Europe has announced that it had reached an understanding with the European Commission on interim interchange fees for cross-border consumer payments within the European Economic Area (EEA). New interchange fees will be set for these transactions while the company pursues its appeal of the Commission’s December 2007 decision regarding interchange. MasterCard Europe had temporarily reduced these fees to zero in June 2008 in order to ensure its conformity with the decision. READ MORE

In the UK, White Eagle (Europe) Plc and hiten have announced the launch of the hiten Prepaid MasterCard - calling it "a card that enables users to effectively and securely manage their money." READ MORE

Blaze Mobile and MasterCard Worldwide have introduced the Blaze Mobile MasterCard PayPass mobile payment sticker. According to the two companies, "the small mobile payment sticker can be affixed to any mobile device, enabling it to be used for "Tap & Go" purchases at any of the over 141,000 merchant locations accept PayPass. The mobile payment sticker is tied to a prepaid account and is issued by MetaBank." READ MORE

In a press release, MasterCard Canada said it "has accepted an opportunity to appear before the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce in order to discuss the payments industry, as well as to address the significant misinformation being propagated by retail sector lobbyists." MasterCard Canada also has a web site on the subject of interchange fees called InterchangeTruth.com. READ MORE

This tax season, MasterCard is working with both H&R Block and TurboTax to provide discounts to its cardholders on the purchase of online tax preparation services:

• For H&R Block's TaxCut Online, consumers purchasing with their MasterCards can save 35 percent when they purchase using the http://hrblock.com/goto/mastercard website.
• For TurboTax Online, consumers purchasing with their MasterCards can save 20 percent when purchasing at the Official Payments website http://www.officialpayments.com/turbotaxmc. For detailed terms and conditions on both discounts, see the MasterCard Tax Payments web site.

MasterCard Worldwide has announced the issuance of the 50 millionth MasterCard PayPass card or device. In the last year, the number of PayPass cards and devices more than doubled. According to MasterCard, "this significant PayPass momentum demonstrates not only the demand for simple solutions when it comes to payments, but also the continued secular shift toward electronic payments as validated by recent data1 that indicates 41 percent of consumers use cash less often today than they did two years ago." READ MORE