As electronic payments accelerate worldwide — fueled, in large part, by our own innovations — MasterCard is becoming a primary source of market intelligence and expertise.

Our insights are based on timely and granular information: billions of purchases by businesses and consumers in markets around the world. These insights are often applied in the field by MasterCard Advisors, our professional services arm, which provides payments-focused consulting, information and outsourcing services to financial institutions and merchants. They are also delivered through highly regarded surveys and reports, which are followed closely by financial institutions, merchants and industry influencers as they monitor emerging trends.

In 2006, MasterCard Advisors established a partnership with the global information and news service Reuters to distribute SpendingPulse® — one of the most frequently cited measures of the U.S. retail economy. In the Asia/Pacific Region, meanwhile, MasterCard sponsored a host of reports and symposia focused on economic developments in this vibrantly growing region.

MasterCard continues to bring the industry together on security issues of concern to financial institutions, merchants, consumers and governments. Our efforts are helping to ensure that payment cards remain the safest and most secure way to pay. For the fourth consecutive year, we hosted risk management forums around the world, attracting security experts from financial institutions, law enforcement and major retailers. This year, the events, held in Cyprus, India, South Africa and the United States, focused on emerging security techniques and the promotion of best practices for combating payment card fraud.