MasterCard Names Ram Chari CEO of ElectraCard

MasterCard has named Ram Chari as chief executive officer of its newly-acquired electronic payment and card technology subsidiary, ElectraCard Services.

Chari has over 20 years of experience in the financial services and processing industries, and was most recently MasterCard's senior business leader of alliances and processing for the Asia/Pacific, the Middle East and Africa region. Prior to joining MasterCard, Chari was CEO of Network International in Dubai.

"We are pleased to have Ram lead ECS, as his wide and varied expertise, gained over many years of dedicated service to the payments industry, will help drive processing innovations at ECS," says Vicky Bindra, president for MasterCard in APMEA, in a July 15 press release.

MasterCard, of Purchase, N.Y., entered a deal to buy ECS, of Pune, India, in May. ECS' products include electronic payments systems and processing tools for ATMs, point of sale systems, Internet and mobile payments.

ECS has customers in more than 25 countries. In his new role, Chari will lead the electronic payments solution provider focus on expanding MasterCard's offerings across the APMEA region.

MasterCard also recently completed its purchase of Pinpoint, an Australia-based loyalty and rewards service provider.