MasterCard has announced that current president and chief
operating officer, Ajay Banga, has been promoted to president and
CEO, from July this year.

Banga will also become a member of
MasterCard’s board of directors, effective immediately. He will
succeed Robert Selander who has held the CEO role since March 1997.
From July, Selander will act as executive vice chairman and will
continue to serve as a member of the company’s board of directors
through to his retirement in December this year.

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Sanjay Sakhrani and Steven Kwok, of financial
analysts Keefe, Bruyette & Woods commented on the appointment,
explaining they believed Banga was purposefully brought in last
year to fill Selandar’s shoes:

“We do not view this announcement as
unexpected and don’t believe it will likely have a meaningful
impact on the stock today. We believe Ajay Banga was brought in
last year to eventually become the CEO. MasterCard hosted a meeting
last year shortly after Mr. Banga joined, where Bob Selander
mentioned that he believed there should be term limits for CEOs and
hinted at his retirement.”

“We note that Mr. Banga’s employment contract
allowed him to terminate his employment with good reason if the
company did not offer him a promotion to CEO on or before the end
of June this year, and effective not later than the beginning of
2011. We think that Ajay Banga’s global experience positions him
well as the new CEO.”

The newly appointed CEO joined MasterCard in
August, 2009. He spent 13 years at Citigroup where he held various
senior positions all over the world. Most recently, he was CEO of
Citi Asia Pacific and was also a member of Citi’s senior leadership
and executive committees.

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Banga said: “I am excited to lead MasterCard
at a time when the global opportunity for electronic payments has
never been stronger.”