MasterCard Reorganization

ICA changed the name of both its organization and its card to MasterCard in 1979. In 1980 Russell E. Hogg became president of the company. Hogg restructured the organization, relocated several support offices, and began pursuing the international market more aggressively.


That same year MasterCard began offering debit cards, or cards that drew money from consumers’ bank accounts rather than from lines of credit. Many of the changes to the company were made in order to challenge Visa, which had bypassed MasterCard to become the worldwide leader in credit card transactions, owning 60 percent of the billings by 1983.


Despite losing this market share to Visa, usage of credit cards in general increased dramatically during the 1980s, enabling MasterCard to continue expanding.