DUBAI – Cash, rather than the threat of rival electronic payments companies, is Mastercard's biggest competition in the Arab world, Zawya published Saturday, quoting a senior executive. "If you think about the total cash flows that take place in the economy, only 10 percent is electronic so 90 percent is cash and checks," Raghu Malhotra, Mastercard's division president, Middle East and North Africa, said in an interview. "And remember that the emerging markets are really only just catching on to that," he added. However, the costs of cash aren't just being felt by Mastercard; regional governments too are counting the cost in their economies. Malhotra estimates that cash costs "most economies" between 50 and 150 basis points, which is why he believes GCC governments - including the UAE - have formulated e-strategies. "The reason they're coming up with e-strategies is because they're saying 'we've got to get more efficient in how we carry out transactions'. They feel that cash is slightly old-fashioned," he said. "I don't consider other payment companies competition. We need to consider cash and checks as the competition for a time and then work with various constituents or with that economy - whether it's a government, whether it's the bank, whether it's the merchants - to actually see how we can make it more efficient." In May 2009, the UAE government launched the Wage Protection System (WPS), which transfers workers' wages through selected financial institutions and is regulated by the government. This system, Malhotra says, is effectively "driving cash out of the economy", becoming more efficient so the speed to market is better. Mastercard released its fourth-quarter and end-of-year financial results for 2011 in the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa region. Gross dollar volume in the fourth quarter grew by 21.8 percent compared to the same period in 2010, purchase volume by 23.5 percent, purchase transactions by 18.2 percent, cash transactions by 18.4 percent and the number of cards issued grew by 12.3 percent. – Agencies
