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Holders of MasterCard-branded payment cards in the Latin American and Caribbean region used their cards to initiate 452 million purchase transactions during the third quarter ended 30 Sept, up 15% from 393 million purchase transactions during the same period last year. Purchase volume on cards in the Latin American and Caribbean region was US$26 billion (20.7 billion euros), up 30% from $20 billion in 2007, the company announced last week. The total number of MasterCard-branded cards in Latin America and the Caribbean increased 19.6%, to 110 million from 92 million September 2007. The number Maestro PIN-debit cards issued in the region reached 125 million, up 11.6% compared with 112 million at the end of September 2007. Specific transaction activity for those cards was unavailable.
