Don't bring MasterCard to Cuba

Don't bring MasterCard to Cuba
Posted 11 hours ago

Canadian credit unions are advising their customers who plan to travel
to Cuba to use credit cards other than their MasterCards.

The problem is the result of the Bank of America Corp.'s acquisition
last October of the credit card business of Regina-based CU Electronic
Transaction Services (CUETS), the largest issuer of MasterCard credit
cards in Canada. CUETS provides credit cards to Canada's credit union
system.

Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for North Carolina-based Bank of America,
said its MBNA Canada subsidiary, which bought the credit card business,
isn't able to process transactions in Canada, so it has to do so in the U.S.

"That puts us under U.S. law to disallow transactions from sanctioned
countries, which would include Cuba," she said.

The U.S. has had a trade embargo against Cuba for nearly 50 years.

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=872581