MasterCard International today announced continued strength in both credit and offline debit, demonstrating double-digit growth globally, despite uncertain economic conditions created by rising oil prices.

Cardholders worldwide used MasterCard-branded cards (excluding Maestro(R) and Cirrus(R)) for 4.3 billion transactions, generating GDV of $365.9 billion in the third quarter of 2004, an increase of 10.0% over the same period in 2003. Total purchases on MasterCard credit and offline debit cards increased 11.1% for the three months ending September 30, 2004, as the number of MasterCard cards issued worldwide rose to 656.0 million.