MasterCard Chief: Brexit Will Have No Major Impact On Us

Brexit will have no significant impact on MasterCard, one of the world’s largest financial services corporations, the company’s President of International Markets has said.

Ann Cairns said that the credit card giant’s technology works in exactly the same way across the world, no matter what a country’s political system, so there is unlikely to be any change if Britain votes to leave the European Union (EU).

In an interview with Euractiv.com, Ms Cairns also said: “If you look at how MasterCard operates, since we work in almost 200 countries, our technology works exactly the same way whatever the geopolitical structure is.

“In terms of moving money across border, we already do that today. Effectively, there will not be a significant change whatever happens, whatever the British voters decide.”

She added that although there may be some implications, they will probably not be severe to cause any major concern.

“I am sure there are some business implications but, as I just explained, our system is designed to deal with countries according to how they choose to operate,” she said.

“When you think about the flows of money, the way the underlying technology works, it does not really change.”

She also added that Britain is now the “leading country in Europe” for electronic payments, although the disappearance of cash from the economy is still a long way off.

There is increasing evidence that warnings of economic doom if Britain votes to leave the EU are failing to resonate with the public. As the referendum draws nearer, the Remain campaign appears to be losing momentum, with some polls now putting Leave ahead as the debate shifts to immigration.

Pro-Brexit economists have also been shooting down ‘Remain’ arguments on the economy. Last month, Roger Bootle, a former Group Chief Economist for HSBC bank, said that recent figures from the Treasury suggesting a new recession if Britain votes to leave the EU should not be trusted.

He said he was “astonished” the Treasury had “come out with these precise figures.”

“It would be funny if it were not so important,” he said, adding: “My own guess is that after we actually left the EU there would be a period during which not very much would happen. Most of life would continue [as it had done before].”