NEW YORK - Ron Clark, a top card executive at National Westminster Bank in London, has been elected to the board of Maestro International, MasterCard's on-line debit program.
Mr. Clark was elected concurrently with Jeffrey L.S. Koo, chairman and chief executive of ChinaTrust Commercial Bank in Taipei.
Mr. Clark, director of operations and development for Natwest card services, has played a key role in the bank's development of Mondex, a smart-card-based system designed as an electronic alternative to cash.
While Natwest has close historical ties to MasterCard - it was one of the original British members and has a seat on the association's board - it also became an important Visa bank with the advent of duality.
In addition to his Mondex and Maestro interests, Mr. Clark has participated in the Visa International stored-value card working group, which is moving toward tests of prepaid smart cards.
He has also played leadership roles in industrywide standards and clearing bodies like Switch, the United Kingdom debit card network, and is chairman of the U.K. Plastic Fraud Prevention Forum.
"Under Ron Clark's leadership, Natwest has been one of the strongest supporters of the Maestro program," said John O. Smith, executive vice president of MasterCard International and general manager of Maestro International.
"And Jeffrey Koo's participation on our board, which sets strategic direction worldwide, demonstrates the significant inroads Maestro is making in the global debit marketplace."
MasterCard has been emphasizing the global capabilities of its on-line debit program, which, thanks in part to its European affiliate Europay, is ahead of Visa - which is not true in the United States. The Maestro point of sale program reports 82 million live cards and 63 million more committed.
Maestro has reported rapid growth in some of its Asia-Pacific countries including Australia, China, Korea, and Malaysia. In Taiwan, Mr. Koo's bank is bringing 250 merchants into the program this year.
Besides heading ChinaTrust Commercial Bank, Mr. Koo is chairman of ChinaTrust Bank, New York, and Grand Pacific Petrochemical Corp., and a senior adviser to Taiwan's prime minister.
