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MasterCard Worldwide reportedly hopes more of its commercial cards go to small businesses in South Korea and nearby countries. "We have a lot of interest not only in [South] Korea but also in other parts of Asia," Peter Gordon, MasterCard vice president of commercial payment solutions, told The Korea Times newspaper Monday. "The small-business segment is relatively untapped." MasterCard officials offered no immediate comment to CardLine Global, but one analyst says Gordon's comment reflects the reality of the Asian card industry. "The focus on commercial cards is not surprising, as it is still a nascent space within the cards business in Asia since operators and issuers have traditionally focused on growing their share of consumers' share of wallet," Sunil Devmurari, an Asia-Pacific analyst for United Kingdom-based research company Euromonitor International, tells CardLine Global. "Now that the [consumer card] market has been largely addressed, new ways to increase the penetration of cashless transactions are being considered by the major international operators like MasterCard." Commercial cards, although present in many of Asia's markets, have tended to focus on large corporations, Devmurari adds.
