Europay International was a financial company. It was created by the merger of Eurocard International and Eurocheque International and was headquartered in

Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo (; ; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in Wallonia, located in the province of Walloon Brabant, Belgium, which in 2011 had a population of 29,706 and an area of . Waterloo lies a short distance south of Brussels, and immedia ...

, on the same premises as EPSS (European Payment Systems Services) and MasterCard EMEA (the MasterCard region comprising Europe, the Middle East and Africa). It merged with MasterCard International to form MasterCard, Inc in 2002. During its existence it was, along with Visa, one of the two credit card processors that dominated the European market. The

EMV EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart card, smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for "Europay International, Europay, Mastercard, and Visa Inc., ...

payment system, now a ''de facto'' standard for

debit Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a cred ...

and

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

cards, was named from Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, the three companies that proposed its usage.

History

In 1993, Europay International SA and MasterCard International announced they would form a single transaction-processing network."BRIEFCASE : Europay and MasterCard Plan to Merge Processing"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' (October 2, 1993) In 1995, it partnered with

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

."Technology"
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' (June 15, 1995) In 2001, Europay International was headquartered in

and owned by a number of European financial institutions, with Mastercard International owning a 12 percent share."McElhatton to keep key role in new MasterCard"
Marilyn Vise, '' St. Louis Business Journal'' (August 19, 2001) Europay, along with Visa, dominated the European credit card market during its existence. By June 1994, it had issued 100 million cards, representing 56% of Europe's total market, although Visa still led in terms of dollar volume. Until 1994, it was the dominant credit card processor in German-speaking countries and Northern Europe, but after that it lost ground to Visa in the north but gained market share in the south of Europe. By 1996, Europay represented 71% of all European debit cards, and 56% of combined debit and credit cards. In 2000, Europay International was an official sponsor of the Euro 2000 football competition, meaning that credit cards issued by participating banks could optionally carry the logo of the tournament. After announcing the plan in June 2001,"MasterCard, Europay to Form Shareholder-Owned Global Firm"
Dow Jones Newswires, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' (June 7, 2001)"MasterCard, Europay agree to merge"
''Philstar Global'' (June 18, 2001) in 2002, Europay International merged with MasterCard International to form MasterCard, Inc. Today the combined company is known as MasterCard Worldwide. In 2002, Europay International held a conference in

Dublin, Ireland Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and noted "card fraud had increased as the use of cards had grown.""Card fraud grows in line with use"
Ella Shanahan, '' Irish Times'' (May 17, 2002)

Brands

Europay International"Europay Announces Advanced Multicurrency Smart Card"
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American Banker ''American Banker'' is a New York-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, but continues to be published as a print magazine nine times a year. ...

'' (June 7, 1996) was the owner of the following payment brands: Eurocard (charge card), Eurocheque (paper-based pan-European cheque system), ec travellers' checque (paper-based European travelers' checks), and Clip (European e-purse based on Common Electronic Purse Specification). It also held the European licenses of MasterCard (credit card) and Maestro (online debit card, joint-venture with MasterCard International).

References

{{Authority control Credit card issuer associations Financial services companies of Belgium Waterloo, Belgium 2002 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Walloon Brabant