Card Briefs: MasterCard in Debit Alliance with Firstar Unit

NEW YORK - MasterCard International and Elan Financial Services announced a strategic alliance to market MasterMoney, MasterCard's off-line point of sale debit program in the United States.

Elan, a wholly owned processing subsidiary of Firstar Bank, Milwaukee, represents a base of 100,000 MasterMoney cards through 750 correspondent banks in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It plans to introduce an additional 100,000 debit cards into its region this year using MasterCard's "Smart Money" rebate program that rewards customers for using MasterMoney cards for repeat purchases.

The alliance is the latest in a series of marketing joint ventures MasterCard has launched to accelerate POS debit in the United States.

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