Mastercard is planning to discontinue its well-known Maestro payment cards soon. Needless to say, this will also entail readjustments for retailers.
Better suited for e-commerce
Worldwide, 400 million Maestro cards by the brand that Mastercard introduced thirty years ago are in circulation. Nevertheless, the successful card will soon be replaced by a new debit card under the Mastercard brand. The main reason is the rise of e-commerce.
According to Henri Dewaerheijd, country manager Belgium and Luxembourg, Mastercard and Maestro have always been two different brands with their proper payment network. “The Mastercard network is twice as large and offers more possibilities to process e-commerce transactions. Due to the enormous growth of e-commerce, especially in the past few months, the importance of that network has increased even more”, he told Belgian newspaper De Tijd.
Additional costs
The Dutch banks would replace the Maestro cards starting from 1 July 2023. Dewaerheijd does not want to confirm if that date also applies to Belgian banks. He only indicates that the transition will not happen in the coming months.
The transition to the new cards will certainly have financial consequences for banks and possibly also for retailers. Both the technological systems and the payment terminals of retailers will have to be adapted.
