Which company owns the global payment networks Mastercard and Maestro?

Mastercard Incorporated owns and operates the global payment networks Mastercard and Maestro.

Mastercard is a payments technology company whose network connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and governments. It does not generally lend money directly to cardholders or issue most cards itself. Banks and other institutions issue cards using Mastercard’s network, while merchants’ acquiring banks process transactions.

Maestro was a debit-card brand and network associated with Mastercard. Mastercard launched Maestro in 1991, and the brand became widely used in many countries. Mastercard later moved toward consolidating its debit offerings under the Mastercard brand, although the timing and implementation differed by market.

Visa is Mastercard’s best-known network competitor, but the two are separate companies. American Express combines card issuing and network operations more directly, while PayPal is primarily a digital-payments platform. These business-model differences explain why payment-company comparisons can be misleading if they focus only on familiar card logos.