MC History Timeline

A group of banks creates the Interbank Card Association (ICA)

ICA acquires the Master Charge name and interlocking circles trademark, opens a New York City office and hires full-time employees

1966

1969

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We’ve been making history for more than

50 years

The company is renamed “Mastercard” to reflect its commitment to evolving payment methods such as debit cards

Award-winning “Priceless” advertising campaign is launched

1997

Mastercard, in partnership with Europay International, launches Maestro, the world’s first global online debit program

1990s

Mastercard acquires the Cirrus ATM network, becomes the first payment card issued in the People’s Republic of China and introduces the hologram security device – an industry first

1979

1980s

Mastercard opens its global headquarters in Purchase, New York

1995

Mastercard Europe and Europay France integrate operations. Mastercard acquires Orbiscom.

2008

Mastercard Worldwide

name and logo are introduced.

Mastercard transitions to a new corporate governance and ownership structure and begins

trading on the NYSE as MA.

2006

Mastercard merges with Europay International to create Mastercard International and converts to a private-share corporation

2002

Mastercard Advisors

launches, the largest global consultancy focused on the payments industry

2001

Mastercard IPO raises $2.4 billion, shares soar more than 15% from $39 debut

2006

Mastercard acquires Applied Predictive Technologies (APT), a leading, cloud-based analytics provider

2015

A series of strategic acquisitions is completed: ElectraCard Services, C-SAM, Pinpoint, the Payment Gateway Services business of Transaction Network Services, and 5one Marketing

2014

Truaxis

Trevica

, a Poland-based

Mastercard acquires

Mastercard's position in the loyalty space.

, strengthens

provider of third-party issuer processing services. Another acquisition,

2012

Access Prepaid Worldwide

and renames it

Mastercard acquires the prepaid card program management business of Travelex

2011

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Mastercard introduces Masterpass

2013

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Mastercard Labs is established, which serves as an incubator for new ideas

2010

Mastercard acquires Oltio to accelerate digital payments adoption in the Middle East and Africa. IBM and Mastercard form an independent trust - Truata - to provide a secure approach to data anonymization and analytics.

2018

Mastercard announces acquisition of NuData Security and completes acquisition of Vocalink. Mastercard enhances its artificial intelligence capabilities with the acquisition of Brighterion, Inc.

2017

Masterpass

Mastercard introduces the enhanced

2016

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Mastercard unveils a new brand mark and design system and renames the company Mastercard with a lower case “c” to reflect the growing importance of digital payments beyond traditional plastic

2016