Toronto, January 5, 2005 – MasterCard Canada today announced it will donate all revenues it receives from tsunami relief contributions made by Canadians with their MasterCard cards to the Canadian Red Cross, CARE Canada, Development and Peace, Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Save the Children, UNICEF Canada, and World Vision Canada.

"Canadians have responded with enormous generosity to those in need in South and Southeast Asia," said Kevin Stanton, president, MasterCard Canada. "We wanted to maximize the effect of that generosity to ensure those dollars go as far as possible."

MasterCard wants consumers to know the benefits of making donations with their MasterCard cards and the best way of doing so:

• The relief organizations will generally gain access to the funds more quickly and with less handling than cash or cheque.
• Making donations by credit card is easy, simple, and convenient for the consumer.
• MasterCard Canada encourages consumers to make donations directly online or by phone to relief organizations using the contact information below to avoid cash advance treatment and to receive the advantages of any applicable grace period.

This donation is MasterCard Canada’s response to this extraordinary event and is in conjunction with MasterCard International’s overall tsunami relief efforts. To encourage consumers to donate as early as possible and to take advantage of Government of Canada matching programs, the MasterCard Canada program will cover donations made using a Canadian MasterCard card during the period ending January 31, 2005.

Canadian Red Cross: www.redcross.ca or 1-800-418-1111
CARE Canada: www.care.ca or 1-800-267-5232
Development and Peace: www.devp.org or 1-800-494-1401
Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders: www.msf.ca or 1-800-982-7903
Oxfam Canada: www.oxfam.ca or 1-800-466-9326
Oxfam Quebec: www.oxfam.qc.ca or 1-877-937-1614
Save the Children: www.savethechildren.ca or 1-800-668-5036
UNICEF Canada: www.unicef.ca or 1-800-567-4483
World Vision Canada: www.worldvision.ca or 1-866-595-5550

About MasterCard International

MasterCard International is a leading global payments solutions company that provides a broad variety of innovative services in support of our global members' credit, deposit access, electronic cash, business-to-business and related payment programs. MasterCard International manages a family of well-known, widely accepted payment cards brands including MasterCard(R), Maestro(R) and Cirrus(R) and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning Priceless(R) advertising campaign is now seen in 96 countries and in 47 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more information go to www.mastercardinternational.com.