Convenience Store Chain Joins Growing List of Those Offering ‘Tap and Go’ Contactless Payment Technology

Philadelphia, PA, November 10, 2005–Wawa, a leading convenience store chain with more than 540 locations in the mid-Atlantic region, today announced it will begin accepting MasterCard® PayPass™, a contactless payment option, in all New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware stores. Maryland and Virginia stores will begin accepting the payment option by the end of 2005. In addition, all 150 Wawa locations with gas pumps will also be equipped to accept MasterCard PayPass by early 2006.

“At Wawa, our primary goal is to simplify our customer’s lives and make sure they are able to stick to their busy schedules. MasterCard PayPass technology will allow them to speed through transactions knowing they are still receiving the same quality care and service from all of our associates and locations,” said Bob Riesenbach, Manager of New Initiatives, for Wawa.

MasterCard PayPass cardholders simply tap their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card on a specially-equipped terminal that utilizes a radio frequency (RF) chip to complete the transaction. Payment is completed quickly, securely and easily, without the hassle of swiping a card, fumbling for cash and coins or signing a receipt. Moments after the cardholder taps their PayPass-enabled MasterCard card, account details are communicated to the terminal and then processed through the MasterCard secure network for clearing and settlement. Wawa customers with a MasterCard PayPass card can pay for purchases both in-store and at the pump.

“Convenience retailers like Wawa have proven to be ideal partners because their primary goal of consumer expediency is in line with the speed and flexibility of MasterCard PayPass technology,” said Fred P. Gore, senior vice president, North America Acceptance, MasterCard International.

PayPass-enabled cards, like other traditional MasterCard cards, also include magnetic stripe technology, so cardholders can use the cards anywhere MasterCard is accepted around the world. The following merchants have announced that they will accept MasterCard PayPass: participating McDonald’s, 7-Eleven stores, Ritz Camera Centers, Boater’s World Marine Centers, Sheetz, Regal Entertainment Group theatres (Regal Cinemas, United Artists Theatres and Edwards Theatres), Duane Reade and Meijer Stores. PayPass is also accepted at QWEST Field, M&T Bank Stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, FedExField, Giants Stadium, Arrowhead Stadium and Ford Field homes of the Seattle Seahawks, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, New York Giants/New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions respectively, and at Citizens Park, home to the Major League Baseball Philadelphia Phillies. For more information about MasterCard PayPass, visit http://www.mastercard.com/paypass.

About Wawa

Wawa, Inc., a privately held company, traces its roots back to 1803 as an iron foundry in New Jersey. Owner George Wood started a dairy processing plant in Wawa, Pennsylvania, in 1902. The milk business was a huge success, due to its quality, cleanliness and “certified” process. In 1964, George’s grandson Grahame Wood opened the first Wawa Food Market in Folsom, PA. Today, the company operates more than 540 stores in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Wawa is known for quality own-branded products including award-winning coffee and freshly prepared hoagies. Wawa consistently ranks among Forbes’ top 200 privately held companies. “Wawa” is the Lenni-Lenape Indian word for flying goose.

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, through its principal operating subsidiary, MasterCard International Incorporated, manages a family of well-known, widely accepted payment card brands including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus® and serves financial institutions, consumers and businesses in over 210 countries and territories. The MasterCard award-winning Priceless® advertising campaign is now seen in 105 countries and in 48 languages, giving the MasterCard brand a truly global reach and scope. For more information go to http://www.mastercardinternational.com.

Visa Enhances Pursuit of Small Ticket Payments

New and Expanded Programs Provide More Ways to Pay, Reasons to Pay, and Places to Pay With Visa

SAN FRANCISCO, November 1, 2005–Visa USA today unveiled an aggressive strategy to accelerate Visa card acceptance and consumer usage at traditionally cash-heavy, smaller ticket businesses. Visa’s comprehensive approach will increase convenience by making the payments process faster and easier for cardholders and merchants. Visa will also increase merchant incentives by offering lower debit interchange rates to acquirers in order to help lower costs for a broader set of eligible merchants.

“Consumers clearly expect more from their payments. From coffee to movies, consumers choose their cards over cash because of the ease, security, and rewards they offer,” explains Elizabeth Buse, executive vice president, Product Development and Management, Visa USA. “Our initiative will grow preference for Visa payments over paper by making checkout faster, offering consumers an undisputed convenience and delivering bottom-line value to merchants.”

Several components of Visa’s initiative will provide merchants with greater incentives to accept Visa and motivate cardholders to use Visa for small ticket purchases. Effective April 2006:

• Visa will allow merchants to forgo obtaining a cardholder’s signature on a receipt for authorized transactions less than $25 to speed up Visa card payments at checkout. This signature exception will be available in several merchant segments where fraud has been historically low, such as drug stores/pharmacies, parking lots, and movie theaters, among others.

• Visa will enhance the financial incentive for acquirers in several small ticket segments by reducing the interchange reimbursement fee in those segments on Visa consumer check card transactions of $15 or less.

• Additionally, Visa will extend its small ticket program to merchant segments that previously did not qualify. Newly qualified industries include: bus lines, tolls and bridges, news dealers and newsstands, laundries and dry cleaners, copy services, and car washes.

• Visa’s comprehensive small ticket program will replace an older, outdated program called the Express Payment Service. The Express Payment Service only extended to four merchant segments and is superseded by the newly expanded set of Visa small ticket solutions.

In addition to policy and interchange modifications, Visa has implemented a number of programs to help small ticket merchants provide faster service, increase sales, and improve operating efficiencies. Efforts include Visa Contactless, turnkey marketing materials, tools that help merchants determine their acceptance costs, and best practices in fraud detection among others.

The small ticket payments segment is ripe with opportunity. The merchant segments that qualify for Visa’s small ticket program represent approximately $750 billion in consumer spending, half of which is made with cash annually. Visa’s volume for purchases under $25 in these segments totaled $39.2 billion in 2004 and is expected to grow. Visa attributes continued growth to a number of factors, including rising consumer demand to use cards for everyday purchases, the ever-growing popularity of the Visa check card for cash purchases, and the number of solutions that Visa has launched in its effort to add value across a variety of small ticket merchant segments.

“Every segment is unique and small ticket merchant locations have some specific needs,” adds Buse. “We’re committed to developing products and services that add value to all players in the payments chain–Members, merchants, and cardholders alike.”

About Visa USA

Visa USA is the nation’s leading payment brand and largest payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumers and business customers with a wide variety of payment alternatives tailored to meet their evolving needs. Visa USA is committed to increasing the choice, convenience, acceptance, and security of Visa payments for all stakeholders in the payment system–Members, cardholders, and merchants. Through its 14,000 Member financial institutions, more than 482 million Visa-branded cards have been issued to cardholders in the United States. Last year, U.S.-based financial institutions relied on Visa’s processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate $1.3 trillion in transactions with unparalleled reliability.

Worldwide, cardholders in over 150 countries carry more than 1 billion Visa-branded cards, accounting for more than $3 trillion in annual transaction volume.

Visa offers a trusted, reliable, and convenient way to access and mobilize financial resources–anytime, anywhere, anyway.

Contacts

Randa Ghnaim
Visa USA
415.932.2163
rghnaim@visa.com

Steve Hickok
Fleishman Hillard
212.453.2353
hickoks@fleishman.com