PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- As part of its ongoing commitment to help protect the integrity of the global payment card network, MasterCard will hold its annual European Global Risk Management Conference in Barcelona, Spain Nov. 1-5. The five-day symposium will welcome hundreds of attendees from across Europe.

Following the Barcelona event, MasterCard will also host two concentrated forums in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Nov. 7-8 and in Johannesburg, South Africa on Nov. 11-12.

“MasterCard’s regional annual risk management conferences are just a few of the many ways that MasterCard works with our partners to help maintain the safety and security of the global payment system,” said Wendy Murdock, chief payment system integrity officer for MasterCard Worldwide. “The strategies and tactics offered during these events help ensure that data security professionals anywhere in the world are up-to-speed on the payment card fraud prevention best practices that are most relevant to their individual markets.”

The conferences offer thought-provoking breakout sessions and informative presentations by well-renowned industry experts. The featured sessions will take an in-depth look at global fraud issues as well as unique challenges specific to the regions represented at the events. Some of the key topic areas at the conferences include:

• The Evolving Fraud Landscape – A diverse panel of MasterCard customers will discuss regional fraud challenges and share recommendations and best practices they have employed to successfully mitigate payment card fraud on both global and local card portfolios.
• Effective Fraud Reduction Strategies Through Better Analytics and Real-time Scoring – Attendees will learn how they can leverage fraud management products currently available to ensure they have robust and efficient systems in place to control card authorizations and minimize fraudulent transactions.
• Aggressive Marketing Practices – Experts will discuss areas of increased scrutiny in the payment system as it relates to the growing use of aggressive marketing schemes by both online and traditional merchants.

The five-day, European MasterCard Global Risk Management Conference will also feature the popular Plastic Card Vendor Seminar. This session will focus on MasterCard’s Global Vendor Certification Program and the new Card Structure and Integrity Program, as well as recent developments with contactless, near-field communication, Chip and PIN, and mobile payment card technologies.

New for the Barcelona conference this year, MasterCard also will provide the following special post-conference seminar and workshop:

• PCI: Lessons to be Learned from Data Breaches – This post-conference workshop will highlight recent findings from account data compromise events to help attendees better recognize the warning signs associated with a potential compromise.
• Compliance Day: An Insider's Guide to Protecting Your Business & Improving Compliance Performance – This post-conference seminar will focus on educating customers on the various compliance programs MasterCard manages to help ensure the integrity of the global payment card system. Attendees will gain an even better understanding of the MasterCard rules they need to follow and tools they can use to improve or enhance compliance performance.

For more information about the upcoming Barcelona, Dubai, and Johannesburg conferences and how to register online, please visit: www.mastercard.com/arm.

About MasterCard Worldwide

As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year, has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.