MASTERCARD BANS VYING CREDIT AT CLIENT BANKS.

Byline: Patricia Lamiell Associated Press 

MasterCard International's U.S. unit will not allow banks issuing its cards to offer new competing plastic.

The decision came Saturday at MasterCard's global directors meeting in London. It follows a similar action by Visa International last month in response to a campaign by American Express Co. to get banks to issue its cards.

After MasterCard's global board left the matter open to its regions, the U.S. unit voted to ban member banks in the U.S. from issuing new competing cards. The policy does not apply to members that have already issued Visa or Diners Club cards and appeared to be aimed at American Express.

``The U.S. board determined that support to the MasterCard brand would be diminished if its members participated in competing programs,'' MasterCard said in a statement. ``Ultimately, if a member disregards the policy, it subjects itself to the loss of its MasterCard license.''

MasterCard spokesman Sean Healy said directors of Europay, the European consortium of financial institutions that issues MasterCards in Europe, will take up the issue sometime in the future, but he could not say when.

American Express is attempting to get banks to issue its cards, even if the cards would compete with Visa or MasterCard issues that the banks already have in place.