PURCHASE, N.Y. – MasterCard International says that 1.5 million merchant locations across the U.S. accept its debit card for transactions in which a cardholder validates their purchase with a personal identification number. The number two card brand called the number "unsurpassed." Five million merchant locations around the U.S. accept the card for transactions in which the cardholder validates the purchase using their signature. MasterCard also cited study by IBD Associates which it said found that the card brand leads the market in the number of points of sale that accept its debit card for PIN transaction in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and San Francisco. Compared to the debit card performance overseas, however, the card brand's performance in the U.S. appeared anemic. Worldwide, MasterCard said that debit cards increased by 12.5 % over last year, moving to 524 million cards which were accepted by 10 million merchants in 93 countries.