RIYADH, 27 July 2007 — MasterCard has assured its cardholders that protecting their interests, preventing fraud and safeguarding financial information are a top priority for the international credit card company. Responding to concerns among credit cardholders in the Kingdom, some of whom have been victims of fraudulent transactions, Alhamedi Alanezi, MasterCard’s country manager for Saudi Arabia, told Arab News that the company has been collaborating with Saudi merchants, banks, law enforcement authorities and their counterpart organizations throughout the world to help facilitate investigations and the prosecution of those involved in card fraud.

Alanezi said MasterCard and its card-issuing banks operate state-of-the-art, multilevel fraud monitoring systems. “Together, we look for patterns of activity consistent with fraud. Issuers can then monitor their cardholders’ accounts closely for fraudulent activity and may reissue cards or take other actions if they suspect fraud has occurred,” he said.

MasterCard, Alanezi pointed out, provides state-of-the-art transaction processing and other payment solutions by interconnecting cardholders, merchants and financial institutions worldwide. It also processes as many as 32 million authorizations of financial transactions a day, enabling consumers to make purchases instantly almost anywhere, in both the virtual and real worlds.

“Globally, we have been rolling out EMV chip-enabled cards to make the payments process easier, faster, more secure and more valuable to everyone involved. In the Middle East, there is migration toward chip-enabled cards, which bring certain benefits to banks, cardholders and merchants. Most significantly, chip cards can be authenticated by way of PIN thereby dispensing with the need for signature. This has proved to be effective in reducing the risk of fraud at points of sale,” Alanezi said.

He added that MasterCard would continue to work with its customer banks to maximize potential and capitalize on opportunities to enhance the usage of cards, support the development of innovative and flexible programs, besides supporting its customers and cardholders.

Asked how cardholders would benefit from using their credit cards during the 2007 MasterCard Summer Travel Campaign, Alanezi said that during the promotional campaign, customers that use their credit cards to make purchases at home or abroad will be automatically entered into a prize draw, with a total prize pool of SR330,000. The more cardholders use their card, the more chances they stand of winning.

Further, the cardholders in the Kingdom can receive exclusive holiday offers this summer through the Al-Tayyar Travel Group and are also entitled to value-added services and special prices when they book their vacations through Al-Tayyar, he added.

MasterCard credit cards are accepted at more than 25 million locations around the world, including over one million ATM locations worldwide.