Dubai: MasterCard yesterday said it had recorded a 20.3 per cent growth in gross dollar volume in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) during the quarter ending June 30.

It also reported a 23.4 per cent growth in purchase volume, 19.3 per cent in purchase transactions, 22.6 per cent in cash transactions and 16.7 per cent in cards issued versus the same period in 2007.

As of June 30, more than 226 million MasterCard cards (excluding Maestro and Cirrus) had been issued by MasterCard customer financial institutions across APMEA. Cardholders in the region made more than 842 million purchase transactions in the second quarter of 2008 and could use their MasterCard cards at 27.3 million acceptance locations worldwide.

"Our results demonstrate the resilience of the MasterCard strategy and business model. We will continue to focus on building valuable relationships with our constituents and expand our product reach into the region," said Andre Sekulic, president, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, MasterCard.

For the quarter ending June 30, the Maestro brand mark appeared on more than 221 million cards in APMEA. Consumers can now make online debit point of sale purchases with their Maestro cards at over 1 million merchant locations in APMEA.

In addition to the performance highlights, MasterCard in the APMEA region also reported a number of significant achievements for the quarter ending June 30.