![]() Maestro logo used since 14 July 2016. | |
Product type | Debit card |
---|---|
Owner | Mastercard Inc. |
Country | United States |
Introduced | 1991 |
Discontinued | July 1, 2023 (Europe only) |
Related brands | Debit Mastercard |
Markets | Worldwide |
Website | www |
Mastercard Maestro is a brand of debit cards and prepaid cards owned by Mastercard that was introduced in 1991. [1] Maestro is accepted at around fifteen million point of sale outlets in 93 countries. [2]
On July 1, 2023, Mastercard began phasing out Maestro across Europe. European banks and other card issuers are now required to replace expired or lost Maestro cards with a different card. [3]
Maestro debit cards are obtained from associate banks and are linked to the cardholder's savings account, current account or any of several other types of accounts, while prepaid cards do not require a bank account to operate. Maestro cards can be used at point of sale (POS) and ATMs. Payments are made by swiping cards through the payment terminal, insertion into a chip and PIN device or by a contactless reader. The payment is authorized by the card issuer to ensure that the cardholder has sufficient funds in their account to make the purchase. The cardholder then confirms the payment by either signing the sales receipt or entering their 4- to 6-digit PIN, except with contactless transactions below a specified amount for which no further verification is required.
Maestro often requires on-line electronic authorization for every transaction, although Mastercard's rules permit the establishment of floor limits on Maestro EMV chip transactions only. Not only must the information stored in either the chip or the magnetic stripe be read, but this has to be sent from the merchant to the issuing bank, the issuing bank then has to respond with an affirmative authorization. If the information is not read, the issuer will decline the transaction, regardless of any disposable amount on the connected account, except in the Asia Pacific region, where manual keyed entry is permitted under some circumstances. This is different from most other debit and credit cards, where the information can be entered manually into the terminal (i.e. by typing the 13 to 19 digits and the expiry date on the terminal) and still be approved by the issuer or stand-in processor. In most countries, other than those specified in Mastercard's rules, a PIN rather than a signature is always required to authorise a Maestro transaction, except where no CVM (Cardholder Verification Method) [4] is required.
Country/Region | Available | Replaced | Replaced by | Notes |
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![]() | Yes | Maestro is the card used by the Banco de la Nación Argentina and other banks, mostly state-run or provincial banks. | ||
![]() | No* | Redeshop | Mastercard acquired the existing Redeshop service in 2002 and rebranded it as Maestro, a few years later Mastercard rebranded their Mastercard Maestro to “Mastercard Débito“, where the name may erroneously suggest that it is a “Debit Mastercard“, but internally the cards are still Maestro. It is standard for most Brazilian credit cards to have a "dual-function" (when offered by the bank) where usually the bank debit card (Mastercard Maestro, Visa Electron or Elo) also has a credit function (usually the only brand in front of the card is Mastercard, Visa or Elo). When inserting, swiping or tapping the card it presents both functions to PoS and the seller selects which one to use. | |
![]() | Yes* | Maestro debit cards are widely used, dual-branded with RedCompra, issued by the majority of banks (Santander issued only Maestro debit cards up to 2020 [5] ). They operate through the local Transbank and Cirrus network. Usually, Chilean Maestro cards have a small logo on the back of the card. Debit Mastercard cards are issued by Coopeuch and Santander. Chilean Maestro cards usually are contactless. | ||
![]() | Yes | Davivienda, Colpatria, Helm Bank (of CorpBanca), Itaú Corpbanca, Banco AV Villas and other banks use Maestro and Cirrus system in their debit cards. | ||
![]() | Yes | Visa and Cirrus at some banks | Maestro is a PIN-based debit card network closely related to the Cirrus ATM network, also owned by Mastercard. Like other PIN-debit networks in the U.S., Maestro there relies solely on a standard card and PIN, without a chip; signature-debit transactions in the U.S. are handled through the main Mastercard network or the rival Visa network. RBS's former U.S. subsidiary, Citizens Financial Group, switched to Visa, though like most foreign banks with operations in the United States, it used MasterCard's Cirrus network and the card participated in the Mastercard SecureCode initiative. Maestro is accepted at several banks (First Hawaiian and Home Street Bank) in Hawaii. | |
![]() | Yes | Maestro was until recently [6] the only debit card network issued by Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay. Since BROU is the largest bank in Uruguay, [7] this means that Maestro is likely the largest network in Uruguay. | ||
![]() | Yes | Maestro is extremely popular. It is as of 2014, the leading debit card, issued by almost all major banks in the country. It is widely accepted in PoS. It works on all ATMs showing the Suiche7B, Mastercard, Conexus and Cirrus logos. |
Country/Region | Available | Replaced | Replaced by | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | No | Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit | Bank of China used Maestro as its "international" debit card system in some areas before, but stopped issuing it from September 2016. [8] In April 2017, they launched "Cross-Border" EMV Debit Card with Visa and Mastercard. [9] [10] Most ATMs owned by nationwide commercial banks still accept Maestro card. Also, certain ATMs will present the user with foreign language options upon insertion of a Maestro card. | |
![]() | Yes | MasterCard Debit | Standard Chartered Hong Kong used Maestro as one of the ATM card systems. However, the clients should make the request for using the Maestro in advance, or the bank would only issue the UnionPay ATM Card to new clients as default. In end-2021, the Bank announced the replacement of Maestro cards with MasterCard debit card. However, the card is only available to Priority and Priority Private customers. For other customers, they have to switch to the UnionPay system. | |
![]() | No | MasterCard Debit | Maestro is issued by most major banks, except ICICI Bank. Maestro issuing banks include the State Bank of India (India's largest bank), State Bank's affiliate banks, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Rajasthan, etc. The bank would only issue the RuPay ATM Card to new clients as default. | |
![]() | No | Maestro Cards cannot be used at point of sales locations to make purchases but the Cirrus network is accepted at a majority of cash points most of the time. The exception is the 'First International Bank of Israel' (FIBI) who do not accept Cirrus. The most common debit cards by Mastercard are branded Mastercard Direct (operated for the banks offer the card by Isracard). Otherwise (but to a much smaller scale) offered Mastercard Debit by banks like Israeli Discount Bank & Mercantile Bank. |
Country/Region | Available | Replaced | Replaced by | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | No | Eurocheque | Debit Mastercard | Beginning with 2019, Austria's largest bank by assets Erste Group [11] began replacing Austrian Maestro cards with Debit Mastercard. [12] Other banks followed in 2020 and 2021. |
![]() | Yes* | Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard | Co-branded with Bancontact. BNP Paribas Fortis group started issuing co-branded Bancontact and Visa Debit cards in 2021. Keytrade Bank also started issuing co-branded Bancontact/Visa Debit cards in 2023. Two Crelan Group-owned banks (Crelan and Europabank ) also switched over to co-branded Visa Debit/Bancontact debit cards (Axa Bank will merge with Crelan itself in June 2024 [13] ). Belfius, KBC Group, Beobank & Argenta (bank) started issuing co-branded Bancontact/Debit Mastercard in 2023. | |
![]() | Yes | Debit Mastercard | UniCredit Bank made the switch from Maestro to Mastercard on June 1, 2016. [14] | |
![]() | Yes | Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard | Reiffeisenbank Hrvatska replaced Maestro card with Debit Mastercard (with vertical design) in 2019. [15] Erste Bank replaced Maestro with Visa Debit in 2020, [16] and Croatia's largest bank, Zagrebačka banka, did the same in 2021. [17] | |
![]() | No | Debit Mastercard | Maestro has been replaced by the banks that issued it with Debit Mastercard. Moreover, the largest Danish bank Danske Bank has replaced all of its cash cards with Debit Mastercards. | |
![]() | Yes* | Eurocheque | In most cases co-branded with the German Girocard logo, but they cannot be used as Maestro over the telephone or on the internet. As of 2020, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe announced to introduce a new co-branded Girocard using the Debit Mastercard system and effectively replacing the Maestro co-badge slowly. [18] | |
![]() | No | Maestro debit cards have been issued by several major banks. [19] However, as of March 2015 all four major Greek banks have replaced Maestro cards with contactless Debit Mastercard. | ||
![]() | No | Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit | Maestro debit cards have been issued by several major banks. For example: an old Íslandsbanki request form for banking products includes Maestro and Electron debit card options: However, as of 2015, all banks have replaced them with contactless Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit cards. [20] [21] | |
![]() | No | Laser | Laser, which was co-branded with Maestro, has been replaced by Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard. The Laser debit card has been phased out by all banks and ceased to operate from March 2014. Irish Laser cards carried Maestro co-branding from 2008 onwards. They were intended to be used with chip and PIN POS systems. The chip on the card was programmed with two applications, one for Laser and one for Maestro. POS transactions were normally processed over the Laser network in Ireland and the Maestro network when the card was used abroad. Some POS terminals prompted users to manually select Laser or Maestro before completing the transaction. Laser cards could be processed as Maestro in most POS terminals worldwide for chip and PIN or swipe and sign transactions (where still accepted). Internet and telephone-based retailers, however, needed to be set up specifically to accept Irish Laser/Maestro cards. Transactions made with these cards were often secured by MasterCard's SecureCode system to verify the cardholder's identity. These cards were usually multi-functional and operated as a debit card as well as an ATM Card which could be used for accessing ATMs. Some banks also allowed customers to use their cards to deposit or withdraw money over the counter or at An Post post offices using their debit card and PIN. Historically the cards often contained a Cheque guarantee card function indicated by a hologram. This scheme was shut down in 2011. Foreign-issued Maestro cards are still accepted in Ireland in ATMs and by many POS machines. However, acceptance of Visa and MasterCard debit/credit cards is more reliably universal at POS terminals. | |
![]() | Yes* | Usually co-branded with the national Bancomat/PagoBancomat and international Cirrus scheme. Most banks issue Mastercard Maestro, while some issue Visa Debit and V Pay cards. | ||
![]() | Yes | PIN | Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit | Most banks issue Maestro debit cards, with only De Volksbank and ING offering both V Pay and Maestro branded cards. [22] [23] Prior to January 1, 2012, Dutch Maestro debit cards were co-branded with the national PIN scheme. This scheme has since been retired and replaced by Maestro and V Pay. And starting in 2022 shop owners will be required to start adding support for Debit Mastercard & Visa Debit to their POS-terminals. [24] |
![]() | No | Debit Mastercard | Maestro was a popular debit card which was offered by major banks for about 20 years until it was replaced. | |
![]() | No | Mir | Maestro was issued by banks including Sberbank, which issues cards such as Mastercard Maestro Momentum and the Mastercard Maestro Social debit card. After Russian invasion of Ukraine, banks stopped issuing Visa, MasterCard and Maestro cards as they left Russia, and started issuing cards with Mir Payment System. Despite that, old and non-expired Maestro cards still work inside Russia. | |
![]() | Yes | Visa Debit | Maestro debit cards are issued by several banks in Serbia. The main issuer was Banca Intesa Beograd until, in September 2012, Banca Intesa Beograd began to switch to Visa. [25] | |
![]() | Yes | Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit | ||
![]() | No | Switch | The former Switch debit card system was re-branded as Maestro. Underneath the branding, however, the system was still the old Switch one and the cards were still fundamentally Switch. In 2011, MasterCard aligned UK domestic Maestro cards (the former Switch) with the standard international Maestro system, ending its status as a separate card scheme. This change also led to the discontinuation of the Solo debit card. [26] In January 2009 First Direct and HSBC discontinued the use of Maestro cards, issuing Visa Debit cards to new customers and a gradual roll-out throughout 2009 to existing customers. In September of the same year, the British arms of the National Australia Bank, namely Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank, started the process of replacing the Maestro card with a Debit Mastercard for their current accounts, except for the Readycash and Student accounts, for which the Maestro card continued to be issued until 2015. Likewise, in the same month the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (Europe's largest debit card issuer which includes the NatWest, Coutts and Ulster Bank brands) switched from Maestro to Visa Debit, a process that took two years to complete. [27] [28] [29] This effectively meant that only a few smaller UK banks would be issuing Maestro cards. In 2015, Bank of Ireland UK replaced its Maestro debit cards with Visa Debit cards. Few if any issuers still issue Maestro cards nowadays in the UK, and acceptance of non-UK Maestro cards is patchy. |
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. Debit cards are similar to a credit card, but the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS; is the technical term referring to a type of payment transaction where electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as payment cards. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.
EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for "Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created the standard.
Visa Electron was a debit card product that uses the Visa payment system. It is offered by issuing banks in every country with the exception of Canada, Australia, Argentina, Ireland and the United States. The difference between Visa Electron and Visa Debit, a similar product, is that payments with Visa Electron always require on-line electronic authorisation, and typically require that all the funds be available at the time of transfer, i.e., Visa Electron card accounts may not normally be overdrawn. Most Visa Debit cards, on the other hand, may be processed offline, without online authorisation, and may allow transfers exceeding available funds up to a certain limit. For that reason, Visa Electron cards are more commonly issued to younger customers or customers that have poor credit.online stores and all offline terminals do not support Visa Electron because their systems cannot check for the availability of funds. In addition to point of sale debit payments, the card also allows the holder to withdraw cash from automated teller machines (ATMs) using the Plus interbank network.
Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit functionality is often incorporated on the same plastic card that allows access to ATM and any domestic networks like EFTPOS or Interac.
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and make payments by electronic transfer with a payment terminal and access automated teller machines (ATMs). Such cards are known by a variety of names, including bank cards, ATM cards, client cards, key cards or cash cards.
A contactless smart card is a contactless credential whose dimensions are credit card size. Its embedded integrated circuits can store data and communicate with a terminal via NFC. Commonplace uses include transit tickets, bank cards and passports.
Network for Electronic Transfers, colloquially known as NETS, is a Singaporean electronic payment service provider. Founded in 1986 by a consortium of local banks, it aims to establish the debit network and drive the adoption of electronic payments in Singapore. It is owned by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB).
Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC) for making secure payments. The embedded integrated circuit chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card, fob, or handheld device over a reader at the point-of-sale terminal. Contactless payments are made in close physical proximity, unlike other types of mobile payments which use broad-area cellular or Wi-Fi networks and do not involve close physical proximity.
The payment card industry (PCI) denotes the debit, credit, prepaid, e-purse, ATM, and POS cards and associated businesses.
A payment card number, primary account number (PAN), or simply a card number, is the card identifier found on payment cards, such as credit cards and debit cards, as well as stored-value cards, gift cards and other similar cards. In some situations the card number is referred to as a bank card number. The card number is primarily a card identifier and may not directly identify the bank account number(s) to which the card is/are linked by the issuing entity. The card number prefix identifies the issuer of the card, and the digits that follow are used by the issuing entity to identify the cardholder as a customer and which is then associated by the issuing entity with the customer's designated bank accounts. In the case of stored-value type cards, the association with a particular customer is only made if the prepaid card is reloadable. Card numbers are allocated in accordance with ISO/IEC 7812. The card number is typically embossed on the front of a payment card, and is encoded on the magnetic stripe and chip, but may also be imprinted on the back of the card.
An issuing bank is a bank that offers card association branded payment cards directly to consumers, such as credit cards, debit cards, contactless devices such as key fobs as well as prepaid cards. The name is derived from the practice of issuing cards to a consumer.
girocard is an interbank network and debit card service connecting virtually all automated teller machines (ATMs) and banks. It is based on standards and agreements developed by the German Banking Industry Committee.
Card schemes are payment networks linked to payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, of which a bank or any other eligible financial institution can become a member. By becoming a member of gets the possibility to issue cards or acquire merchants operating on the network of that card scheme. UnionPay, Visa and MasterCard are three of the largest global brands, known as card schemes, or card brands. Billions of transactions go through their cards on a yearly basis.
Rede known as Redecard is a Brazilian multi-brand acquirer with 25 brands in its portfolio, for credit, debit and benefit cards. Its activities include merchant acquiring, capturing, transmission, processing and settlement of credit and debit card transactions, prepayment of receivables to merchants, rental of POS terminals, check verification through POS terminals, credit card machine and the capture and transmission of transactions using benefit-voucher, private-label cards and loyalty programs such as Multiplus. The company is the first largest in its sector. The company was traded in BM&F Bovespa and disclosed in September 24, 2012.
Debit Mastercard is a brand of debit cards provided by Mastercard. They use the same systems as standard Mastercard credit cards but they do not use a line of credit to the customer, instead relying on funds that the customer has in their bank account.
A card security code is a series of numbers that, in addition to the bank card number, is printed on a credit or debit card. The CSC is used as a security feature for card not present transactions, where a personal identification number (PIN) cannot be manually entered by the cardholder. It was instituted to reduce the incidence of credit card fraud. Unlike the card number, the CSC is deliberately not embossed, so that it is not read when using a mechanical credit card imprinter which will only pick up embossed numbers.
V Pay is a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) debit card for use in Europe, issued by Visa Europe. It uses the EMV chip and PIN system and can be co-branded with various national debit card schemes such as the German Girocard or Italy's PagoBancomat.
Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. Supported on iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, Apple Pay digitizes and can replace a credit or debit card chip and PIN transaction at a contactless-capable point-of-sale terminal. It does not require Apple Pay–specific contactless payment terminals; it can work with any merchant that accepts contactless payments. It adds two-factor authentication via Touch ID, Face ID, Optic ID, PIN, or passcode. Devices wirelessly communicate with point of sale systems using near field communication (NFC), with an embedded secure element (eSE) to securely store payment data and perform cryptographic functions, and Apple's Touch ID and Face ID for biometric authentication.
Google Pay is a mobile payment service developed by Google to power in-app, online, and in-person contactless purchases on mobile devices, enabling users to make payments with Android phones, tablets, or watches. Users can authenticate via a PIN, passcode, or biometrics such as 3D face scanning or fingerprint recognition.
BROU es, por lejos, el banco más grande de Uruguay, pues representa casi la mitad del total de activos del sistema financiero.