American giant MasterCard announced, in a communiqué made public on 19^th October, setting up a representative office in Casablanca, in order to speed up its growth in Africa.

The payment solutions provider specified that its MasterCard Africa representative bureau would host its regional headquarters serving the Greater North-West Africa area (GNWA), which covers more than 20 African countries home to some 500 million inhabitants.

Founded in 1966 in the USA, MasterCard operates "the fastest payment management network in the world" which links consumers, financial institutions, traders, governments and companies in more than 210 countries and territories. The company boasts of its partnerships with 25,000 financial institutions throughout the world.