MasterCard Announces Exclusive Debit Brand Relationship with BECU

Purchase, NY, - MasterCard Worldwide today announced a contract extension and five-year Debit MasterCard® and PIN brand exclusivity agreement with BECU (originally known as Boeing Employees’ Credit Union), the largest credit union in Washington and one of the top five financial cooperatives in the country. BECU has been a Debit MasterCard issuer for more than 10 years. The agreement means that BECU will enjoy simpler processes, more control, and greater insight when managing its debit portfolio. Its members will continue to enjoy the flexibility, convenience, and security they have come to expect when using BECU Debit MasterCard cards.

BECU currently operates in more than 39 locations including full-service branches and in-store centers in supermarkets, and manages more than 150 ATMs serving over 325,000 debit cardholders in Washington state. As part of the multi-year agreement, BECU will exit other PIN POS network relationships and will participate exclusively in the MasterCard PIN POS Debit network. In addition, it will route ATM withdrawals and deposits primarily to the MasterCard ATM network. This move will simplify BECU’s network relationships, improve insight into members’ transaction data by leveraging the MasterCard Data Warehouse, and provide a holistic view of all signature and PIN transactions. The impact will be to help identify any potential fraud and drive revenue increases and cost savings to BECU’s bottom line.

“Throughout our relationship MasterCard has provided us with the dedicated support and expertise we’ve needed to optimize our debit portfolio,” said Gary Fee, director of Product & Delivery Channel Management, BECU. “MasterCard shares our business philosophy of providing outstanding value, and this exclusive agreement will help us further differentiate BECU with more targeted programs and offers for our members. Consolidating our network brands ensures that we maintain control over the routing of our members’ transactions, which in turn delivers the highest possible return to our members.”

“We look forward to supporting BECU as it seeks to more deeply connect with its card members,” said Bill Mathis, executive vice president, Business Development, MasterCard Worldwide. “This agreement enables MasterCard to help BECU gain more of a 360-degree view of its debit portfolio. As a result of this greater insight, BECU will be able to deliver customized programs and member communications, which will enhance the experience and value to its members.”

Debit MasterCard cards enjoy unsurpassed acceptance at more than 25 million locations and more than 1 million ATM locations worldwide. The MasterCard PIN debit Maestro Network is accepted at more than 9 million PIN-point of sale terminals worldwide. Its unique “Continuous Processing” architecture ensures a superior level of uptime and disaster avoidance so that there is no interruption to the delivery of online transaction processing services to customers.