Mumbai: MasterCard International has appointed Denzil Lawson as senior vice president for sales and business development, South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA) region, based in Dubai. He will work closely with managers in the market clusters to develop all areas of the MasterCard value proposition amongst member financial institutions. Lawson, who will also have an oversight of SAMEA's marketing and public relations functions, will report to Sonny Sannon, regional president for SAMEA, according to a press release.

MasterCard International recently announced the formation of the new SAMEA operating unit, comprising market cluster offices in Johannesburg, India and Dubai. It services over 200 member financial institutions in more than 40 countries and includes some of the largest growing economies in the world.

Lawson previously worked for the ANZ Bank in Australia for over 18 years where he held a number of senior management positions. His most recent role in ANZ was as head of international electronic banking, in which he was responsible for debit and credit cards, ATMs, phone and Internet banking, in over 30 countries. Lawson has intensive experience across South Asia and the Middle East in particular where the ANZ Grindlays electronic banking functions were under his control prior to the sale of the Grindlays' businesses to Standard Chartered Bank, the release said.

Commenting on Lawson's appointment, Sonny Sannon said, "We are delighted that Denzil has agreed to join our growing team. Having worked within a member financial institution environment for the past 20 years, he comes to MasterCard with a wealth of banking and payments industry experience. He will certainly offer a unique perspective that will enable us to become even closer to our member financial institutions and help evolve modern payment systems within this diverse region."