MasterCard Closes DataCash Purchase

MasterCard Inc. has completed its acquisition of DataCash Group PLC.

MasterCard, of Purchase, N.Y., announced in August plans to purchase the London payments technology developer (see story), a move that some saw as a response to Visa Inc.'s purchase of CyberSource Corp. in July. MasterCard said Friday that it completed its purchase of DataCash for $526 million.

DataCash provides MasterCard with new fraud prevention capabilities and new relationships with merchants in Western Europe. The merchant relationships should speed acceptance of MasterCard's Maestro brand for online purchases, MasterCard said when the deal was announced.

The purchase was announced shortly after Visa completed its $2 billion acquisition of CyberSource, which also provides fraud prevention and e-commerce payment services.

Observers said both acquisitions should improve the card companies' ability to handle payments made from mobile devices.