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MasterCard Worldwide has entered into an agreement to take a 52.5% stake in Australia-based Strategic Payments Services Pty Ltd., MasterCard announced yesterday. MasterCard, Bendigo Bank Ltd. and Customers Ltd. established the transaction processor in 2006 as a joint venture. Bendigo is an Australia-based financial institution, and Customers is an Australia-based provider of electronic-payment systems. Bendigo will retain its existing shares, and Customers will become a minority shareholder after MasterCard purchases 19.18% of its stake in Strategic Payments under the agreement, according to MasterCard. Strategic Payments provides transaction switching and back-office support functions for credit, debit, private-label and chip-enabled cards. Strategic Payments "stands to further benefit from MasterCard's payments expertise and network-processing flexibility," says Greg Gillett, chairman of the processor's board. Strategic Payments estimates it processed more than 35 million transactions in fiscal 2008, according to its Web site. "The agreement to increase stake underpins our region's processing strategy and will enable us to respond to the region's needs readily, most cost effectively and in an innovative manner," states a MasterCard spokesperson. "The increased stake will give MasterCard the opportunity to deliver regional processing solutions to financial institutions and merchants." Processing is a "major pillar" of MasterCard's business strategy, says Shuan Ghaidan, MasterCard group head of customer delivery in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. "While we continue to develop technologies in-house, joint ventures and acquisitions have also become key to our global strategy for expansion, allowing us to harness new revenue streams and increase our speed to market," he says. Strategic Payments' main office will remain in Sydney.
