A Pele autograph: Priceless

In between reading the Mabuhay magazine and filling out the customs declaration form during the three-hour flight from Manila to Shanghai, I decided to jot down several objectives that I hoped to accomplish by the end of my brief visit to the city regarded as the "Paris of the East."

This was the short list that I came up with:

1. Take a midnight stroll on the famous Bund.

2. Overload on authentic Chinese food (you can’t get any more authentic than Shanghai).

3. Learn more about credit cards.

4. Buy a really cheap DVD player.

5. Get Pele’s autograph.

At first glance, objectives 3 and 5 may seem out of place and may never find themselves in print on any Chinese travel brochure or tourist guide book. But when you’re a journalist invited to attend the 2002 MasterCard Asia-Pacific Annual General Meeting in Shanghai’s New Pudong Area, they’d fit in just nicely.

As a tourist, one always hopes to also learn a great deal about the Chinese people and their customs. But if the locals wanted to make a good first impression, they failed miserably. Several of the visiting Asian journalists complained that people were constantly bumping into them even in spacious hallways and on the wide sidewalks of the city.

"What’s the matter with these people? Do they have something against me?" asked one female journalist, who almost dropped to the floor when a local virtually rammed her on the way to the elevators at the hotel lobby.

Singapore Straits Times’ Paul Jansen, who had been to China before, said, however, that the locals were not being rude, much less intending to hurt anyone. "In a country with a population of one billion, people simply have no concept of personal space. That’s just the way they are."

So, with total disregard for space, we proceeded to the next order of business and registered at the Pudong Shangri-La, where most of MasterCard advisors’ meetings and business sessions were to be held. At the conference registration table, we were given magnetic swipe cards with the all-too-familiar MasterCard logo on them.

All right, credit cards for all! My wife should have been here, I thought. Alas, they were simply official badges for the business conferences and sessions during the five-day AGM. If you tried buying anything with them…well, suffice it to say the all-too-familiar movie scene of a restaurant waiter or store clerk cutting your card in half might embarrass you to death.

Georgette Tan, vice president for communications of MasterCard Asia-Pacific, pointed out that they were special plastic badges, which doubled as room key cards.

"Keep them with you at all times," she reminded us. Losing your card not only denies you access to an informative session but apparently to a warm shower as well.

From my room, I had a breathtaking view of the Huangpu River and its western shores, where the first of my objectives stood.

On the west side of the river is the Bund, considered the birthplace of Shanghai and a waterfront street that had once been the most famous in Asia. (Honestly, I have no idea what street currently holds that distinction.)

The one-kilometer-long street is dotted with historic buildings, some of them dating back to the 1930s. It has earned the reputation of being an international exhibition of architecture, with a wide range of western styles scattered along the thoroughfare.

Landmarks on the Bund include the former Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, which after 1949 was used as the city’s Communist Party headquarters. It is now the home of the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

An equally popular destination is the Peace Hotel – more a monument to the past than a functioning hotel since only a fraction of those wandering about actually stay there. Formerly owned by opium magnate Victor Sassoon, the Peace Hotel draws in crowds hoping to get an earful of its famous eight-piece Dixieland jazz band.

One of the MasterCard dinners was held at the famous M on the Bund, a restaurant owned by Australian restaurateur Michelle Garnaut. Since its opening in January 1999, M on the Bund has become Shanghai’s most fashionable meeting place.

The guest book reads like a who’s who – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Sirikit of Thailand, heads of state like German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, numerous US senators and government dignitaries, titans of business such as Rupert Murdoch and Richard Branson, and celebrities such as Oliver Stone.

M on the Bund combines old-world elegance with an eclectic European menu, plus an outdoor terrace for a spectacular night time view of the Bund and Huangpu.

Unfortunately, the view from the terrace was the closest I got to accomplishing Objective No. 1. Not unless the walk from the entrance of the M on the Bund to the bus parked three meters away counts as a scenic tour of the strip.

Still, the view was more than enough. First objective, complete.

Sad to say my authentic Chinese meal failed to fully materialize. Sure, we had Peking duck and noodles during the buffet lunches, but none in the traditional Shanghai cooking style.

I didn’t even get to use chopsticks or to yum cha (drink tea) with any of my meals. Perhaps I could make it up back here in Escolta or Binondo.

Does Haf Chang count? Mission 2, half accomplished.

Proud history and all, the buildings of the Bund now find themselves having to share the limelight with their counterparts across the river on the east bank.

On the other side of the Huangpu lies the 21st-century New Pudong Area, a symbol of the new developing Shanghai, the future of China.

Dubbed "the largest construction site in the world," Pudong is being developed as a multifunctional, financial, export-oriented and cosmopolitan area of Shanghai.

Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China’s policy of reform, initiated and promoted the program to develop the Pudong area into the dragon head of China’s revitalization and further opening it to the world in the decades to come.

Situated within the Pudong Park in Lujiazui is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. With a height of 468 meters, the Orient Pearl is the world’s third tallest TV tower after the 553-meter CN Tower in Toronto and the 535-meter Moscow TV Tower. With a unique design composed of balls and columns, the tower has become Shanghai’s newest landmark.

And to further widen its doorway for the world, China recently opened the Pudong International Airport (about a 40-minute drive from Hongqiao Airport), making Shanghai the first city in China to have two international airports.

Just about the same time this first-time visitor arrived in Pudong two weeks ago, a special group of tourists were already checking out the sights in the new district.

A seven-member team from the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE) was in town for an initial inspection of infrastructure being readied as part of Shanghai’s ambitious bid to host the 2010 World Exposition.

While in Pudong, the delegation heard various presentations, conducted on-site visits and held discussions with local officials as part of its review of cities aspiring to hold the 2010 Expo. Shanghai has pledged to attract 50 million people if the city is chosen to host the global fair.

The BIE, however, has the onerous task of choosing the host city for the Expo from among Shanghai, Moscow, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Wroclow in Poland and Yeoso in South Korea.

Perhaps, the BIE reviewers would do well to borrow some notes from our travel host, which has already given Shanghai the nod of approval.

MasterCard Asia Pacific’s decision to hold its 2002 AGM in Shanghai was one of perfect timing, coming at an extraordinary period in China’s history as well as in the history of the cards payment industry.

"With its recent entry into the World Trade Organization, China has fully entered the global economy and this will undoubtedly have impact on all of us," said MasterCard Asia-Pacific region president Andre Sekulic. "At the same time, our industry faces many new challenges and opportunities that most could never have foreseen just a few years ago."

The goal of each year’s AGM is to assess recent achievements, bare new corporate strategies and reward member banks and institutions with new insights and solutions for the challenges and opportunities their card payments business face.

Some 1,300 participants – including members, industry exhibitors in the Future of Money Technology Fair and journalists – attended this year’s MasterCard Asia-Pacific AGM, which carried the theme "Delivering Market Leadership, Sharing Success."

The meeting agenda was complemented by a wide range of business sessions aimed at providing members with a comprehensive update on the most important topics in today’s card industry. These included special seminars and workshops devoted to trends in electronic business, marketing consulting, new commercial payments solutions and security and fraud reduction, facilitated by top MasterCard advisors.

MasterCard International president and CEO Robert Selander said 2001 was the best year in the history of the organization.

"Worldwide, MasterCard grew almost 18 percent to $926 billion. The number of MasterCard branded cards grew almost 19 percent to nearly 520 million. Merchant locations rose to 23 million, nearly a 17 percent increase over the year 2000, and the seventh consecutive quarter of double-digit merchant location growth," Selander said.

With over seven million multifunctional MasterCard chip cards already issued and being used in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines, there are now more MasterCard branded chip cards in use in Asia-Pacific than any other payments brand.

MasterCard pointed out that after more than 30 years, the magnetic stripe technology associated with credit cards is now nearing the end of its life cycle.

There’s no denying that the magnetic stripe cards have been a huge success for the banking industry, representing some of the highest revenue and profit. However, the rate of profitability has started to slow down in recent years. It has also become more vulnerable than ever to fraud.

A viable solution in the form of chip card technology has emerged, offering lower costs, more reliability and security as well as huge storage capacity. By migrating from magnetic stripe technology to chip, financial institutions will benefit from a dramatic reduction in fraud and improved credit risk management.

With the advent of new technologies, MasterCard’s vision for the future is to see itself as the global payments leader.

Its strategies are simple: being customer driven; being people-centric; embracing teamwork; being entrepreneurial; and ultimately getting results.

At the MasterCard gala dinner and Asia-Pacific Awards, partner institutions were honored for promoting the company brand. This serves as solid proof of MasterCard’s commitment to sharing success and giving credit where credit is due.

Philippine banks bagged five awards – four gold and one silver. In the MasterCard scheme of things, gold means a second place finish and silver, third place. Platinum represents the top prize.

The following are the winning products in their respective categories:

• Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., gold for its ET Cirrus Maestro ATM Card as Best Maestro/Cirrus Deposit Access Program;

• Bank of the Philippine Islands, gold for its eCredit as Best E-Commerce Related Initiative;

• Citibank, gold for its Clear MasterCard as Best in Print Advertising;

• First e-bank, silver for the Smart Money MasterCard Electronic MTV as Best MasterCard Electronic Card; and

• Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd., gold for its Red MasterCard as the Best Lady Card Program.

The final task at hand was obtaining an autograph from a certain Brazilian in China. (Everybody gave up on DVDs because of warranty issues.)

Soccer great Pele, who is the spokesman of MasterCard, made the long trip to Shanghai to promote the upcoming World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea this June as well as the company’s participation in the world’s most anticipated sporting event.

MasterCard’s AGM was in fact held earlier than usual this year to give way to the World Cup, where MasterCard has been a major sponsor since 1990.

As expected, delegates from Korea, Japan and China were all eager to hear the soccer legend’s assessment of their respective national teams, which are competing in the 2002 World Cup.

His advice to fans was not to press their respective teams too much as this would only place added pressure on their relatively inexperienced sides.

One question that never fails to be asked of Pele is who he thinks would make it to the World Cup finals. "If I had it my way every team would be in the finals against Brazil," he said jokingly.

He would later say that if the World Cup were played right now, he would bet on Argentina, England, defending champions France or Portugal to make it to the finals.

When asked why he chose to be a spokesman for MasterCard, the only man to have won three World Cups as a player, replied: "I always play for the winning team."

At the end of the briefing, we were able to line up for autographs as well as have pictures taken with the one of the most recognizable athletes on the planet.

A couple of photos and one Pele autograph: Priceless.

For everything else... well, you know how it goes.