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Wellington, July 21, 2011 - Visitors to Wellington’s Westpac Stadium now have greater choice and convenience when buying food, drinks and merchandise, thanks to MasterCard.

With just 50 days to go until Rugby World Cup 2011, MasterCard, a Worldwide Partner and the official payment system of the Tournament, has teamed up with Wellington Regional Stadium to install more than 100 point-of-sale (POS) PayPass enabled terminals throughout the venue.

Until now, fans had only been able to pay with cash at the Stadium. However, with MasterCard’s support, the Wellington Stadium has been able to install a payments infrastructure that will provide MasterCard cardholders with the opportunity to use their cards on-site up-to and during Rugby World Cup 2011 (RWC 2011), with other payment cards being accepted at the Stadium once the Tournament is over.

MasterCard New Zealand’s Country Manager, Albert Naffah, said this investment was just a small part of MasterCard’s commitment to leaving behind a ‘world class’ payments system for New Zealanders after RWC 2011.

“Our investment provides visitors to Wellington’s Westpac Stadium with the convenience of being able to pay by card and not having to carry large amounts of cash around with them. The new payments infrastructure we have supported Westpac Stadium to install is the latest available and incorporates MasterCard’s contactless payments technology PayPass. Making the payment process even easier, PayPass cardholders can simply tap their card against the reader to make purchases of less than $80 without the need to enter their PIN or provide a signature,” said Mr Naffah.

“With more than 100 MasterCard PayPass terminals and card readers installed at the Westpac Stadium, transactions are faster, meaning less queuing and less time away from the action. It’s like having exact change wherever you go.”

Westpac Stadium’s Chief Operating Officer, Linda Rieper said, “We are very pleased to be partnering with MasterCard as we upgrade our stadium infrastructure. Visitors to the Stadium will now be able to experience the convenience of this technology Hurricanes, Phoenix and Lions fans will now have another thing to cheer about when attending games at Westpac Stadium.

“Visitors to Westpac Stadium will not only have a choice about how they want to pay but also a more convenient and secure payment service.

“Gone are the days where fans had to queue twice, first to withdraw cash at the ATM and then again to buy their food and drinks. Today, they’ll just need to look for the MasterCard acceptance signs.

Paying with MasterCard also eliminates the need to carry large amounts of cash, so is more convenient and safer.”

In conclusion, Mr Naffah added, “MasterCard is absolutely committed to making Rugby World Cup 2011 a world class, ‘Priceless’ event. As part of our sponsorship we are determined to leave behind a sustainable world-class payments legacy that will redefine the payments landscape here in New Zealand while providing consumers and merchants with convenience, efficiency and payments security.”

At the end of March 2011, there were around 92 million MasterCard PayPass cards and devices issued for use at approximately 311,000 merchant locations worldwide. In New Zealand, MasterCard PayPass enabled terminals will also be available from July at Hell Pizza, St Pierre’s Sushi and Corporate Cabs.

About MasterCard Worldwide
As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2010, $2.7 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 23 billion transactions each year and has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard^®, Maestro^®, and Cirrus^®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.

MasterCard & Rugby World Cup 2011
MasterCard Worldwide is a Worldwide Partner and the official payment system of Rugby World Cup 2011. The company leverages the platform to further deliver shareholder value by creating exclusive business-building opportunities for its customer financial institutions, while building MasterCard brand affinity by offering priceless experiences to MasterCard cardholders. As part of its agreement, MasterCard secures a comprehensive rights and benefits package that allows the company to deliver value to customer financial institutions, merchants and cardholders, including the ability to access “Priceless” experiences linked to Rugby World Cup 2011.

Rugby World Cup is the crown jewel of the sport and a prominent global property – with television coverage of Rugby World Cup 2007 spanning more than 200 territories, reaching a cumulative audience of 4 billion viewers. Rugby World Cup 2011 is being held in New Zealand for the first time since the inaugural event in 1987. Teams representing 20 nations will compete in 48 matches across 13 Host Cities between 9 September and 23 October 2011.

Beyond its expertise in world-class sponsorship marketing, MasterCard also has a rich heritage of supporting the sport of Rugby in the host country. Since 2002, MasterCard has been a sponsor of the New Zealand All Blacks team.

N.B. Prices are not indicative of actual food and beverage prices available at stadiums during RWC 2011