Maestro is playing well in the international arena; MasterCard goes on debit card offensive.

On the eve of its debit card ad campaign in the United States, MasterCard International says Maestro has established strong momentum overseas.

At the end of October MasterCard said, 88.7 million cards in 32 countries aside from the United States had been committed to Maestro.

U.S. commitments raised that total to 104 million.

These numbers, and the debit business generally, have become a flash point for the MasterCard-Visa rivalry.

Visa likes to point out that it has an edge in the United States in what it says is a more valid number - cards actually issued. The Visa U.S. debit figure is 37 million, including both the Visa Check and Interlink brands.

The San Francisco-based association expects to hit 100 million in the United States, and more than 200 million worldwide, in two years.

New York-based MasterCard formed its debit units, Maestro U.S.A. and Maestro International in 1991 and 1992.

Program Growing Rapidly

The international program went live in July with 26 million cardholders, and grew to 42 million in four months. Maestro International started with 247 licensed member institutions and now has 307.

In the United States, Maestro has 268 members, serving 7.6 million cardholders.

Midland Bank of London last month became Maestro's most recent major catch.

Europay International, MasterCard's European partner, announced that Midland will add the Cirrus automated teller machine service and the Maestro debit capability to its 4.25 million debit cards.

Customers will be able to make purchases and withdraw cash wherever those logos are displayed.

Focusing on the uncommitted

Midland also will add the European debit card mark "edc" to its 400,000 Eurocheque cards. Eurocheque is a check guarantee card, which, with the "edc" mark, gives cardholders the same capabilities as Maestro within Europe.

While vying with Visa for banks' debit card allegiance, MasterCard is focusing on the opportunity to convert large numbers of uncommitted cards.

"In the world, there are 500 million ATM cards issued today, and we are working on adding the Maestro and Cirrus marks onto them." said John O. Smith, executive vice president of debit services for MasterCard.

MasterCard, differentiating itself from Visa, has emphasized the on-line Maestro product internationally. On-line transactions require immediate verification of cardholders' account balances.

Visa promotes Visa Check, an off-line service that uses the credit card authorization and settlement procedure.

Visa Check can immediately serve 70% of consumers, Visa says, while an on-line service like MasterCard's Maestro or Visa's Interlink would take time to match that penetration.

"We are focusing on an on-line system because the marketplace really wants it," Mr. Smith said.

|Different Requirements'

A spokeswoman said Visa will make an announcement this week about its international debit plans and address the issue of on-line versus off-line cards in the global arena.

"There are different requirements around the world for various products and technologies," the spokeswoman said.

Visa, adjusting to individual market needs, would not offer an on-line product in places where it might be impractical or overly expensive to install.

Mr. Smith contends off-line transactions are ultimately more expensive because they involve paper and delays.

"Off-line is a delay-processing system," Mr. Smith said. "In a direct debit environment there is simply one message and no paper, and there are far fewer adjustments."

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