Westpac ditches MasterCard

The bank will now only issue Visa cards for most customers.

Ryan Newman (TMFNewmy)

Ryan Newman (CFA) is the Director of Research of The Motley Fool Australia, and Portfolio Manager for the Pro and North Star services. Ryan’s interest in investing and stocks began at a young. His journey with The Motley Fool started first as a member but when the company first came to Australia he joined the team as one of our writers. Recognising his investing talent and passion, it wasn’t long before he was approached to join the investing team as a research analyst on Pro. Ryan is passionate about learning and continual development. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 2022, and has completed his Bachelor of Accounting and his Graduate Certificate of Corporate Finance. Ryan loves spending time with his young family as well as non-fiction reading, catching the latest movies and following his sports team, the St Kilda Saints (AFL).

Published August 1, 2013 1:37 pm AEST

In an attempt to streamline the number of products it offers to customers, Westpac (ASX: WBC) customers will now be issued with Visa (NYSE: V) cards only – a change from the previous policy where new customers were given the choice between a Visa or Mastercard (NYSE: MA) credit card.

Whilst existing MasterCard card holders will be able to renew their cards without having to make the change, Rachel Slade, Westpac's general manager of business improvements, said "in reality, customers don't really need all that product" – referring to the 24 different credit cards and 300 products offered to customers by the bank.

Meanwhile, each of the other major banks still offer a choice between either Visa or MasterCard, although ANZ (ASX: ANZ) has a preferred relationship with Visa and Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) prefers to issue customers with MasterCard credit cards.

Regarding the bank's decision, Michael Ebstein, the head of credit card consulting firm MWE Consulting, said "at the end of the day, the thing that is most important for cardholders is that it is accepted where they want to use it. Whether it is Visa or MasterCard is really irrelevant, given the prices and the value-added services are determined more by the issuer than by Visa or MasterCard."

Although the bank will no longer offer MasterCard credit cards for most of its products, the top of the range "Black" cards will still be issued as either MasterCard or American Express.

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Motley Fool contributor Ryan Newman does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this article.

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