Mastercard Focuses Data Initiative on Business and Customer Intelligence

One of the more reasonant insights from the PYMNTS Intelligence “How The World Does Digital” report can be found in the differences between the countries we surveyed. Brazil, for example, is engaged at a higher level than any other country. France is riding an aggressive government program to become more digital, as is the U.K. It all adds up to what Tine Fincioen, EVP digital transformation at Mastercard, called “different types of digital engagement across countries, across segments, across populations.”

The rate of digital acceleration has differed across regions and countries based on technology — in short, whether laptops and mobile devices are readily available. By way of example, contactless payments have been an option for several years in Europe, with widespread adoption. But it was necessary to have the 2014 launch of digital wallets in place to enable that acceleration globally. In other countries, like India, tokenization is pretty much ubiquitous.

As part of the latest “What’s Next in Payments” installment focused on digital engagement, Fincioen said Mastercard is finding it’s an opportune time to launch its Mastercard Payment Passkey service into India as the market is already almost 100% tokenized. In time, Passkeys can also benefit emerging markets by bringing security and frictionless payments together.

Mastercard has been working with client firms, including FinTechs, to get end users more fully engaged in various digital use cases — and data offered by the payments network can help those enterprises gauge how well, and where, their customer engagement has been trending as they introduce new products and services. Mastercard, she added, has visibility into 143 billion transactions annually.

That visibility is being combined with Mastercard’s analytical capabilities, machine learning and a host of different artificial intelligence (AI) methodologies to optimize the performance of its customers. The data is also useful in helping merchants to improve approval rate and checkouts.

“We use data to show them how they are performing versus their peers, the best in class, similar customers in different demographics, different countries around the world … and how they can improve their performance when it comes to payments,” Fincioen said. “Digital solutions offer up the answers to improving performance.”

Across those geographies, said Fincioen, the movement is to use mobile phones and mobile applications for payments. Younger consumers, especially, value speed when it comes to payments. But even older demographics, she said, are feeling more comfortable using digital wallets and solutions for payments.

No matter the payment method or the technology being deployed, security is critical, and Fincioen noted that fraudsters are getting more sophisticated and their schemes are rapidly evolving.

After all, she said, “trust is at the center” of all commerce and at the center of any transaction, especially in the digital age.

Along the way, with trust, streamlined operations and better security in the mix, enterprises using Mastercard’s offerings can boost approval rates or extend a range of payment options to customers.  The collaborative nature of the relationship between Mastercard, FinTechs and end users helps to onboard new digital solutions via Mastercard’s large network of FinTech partners.

In terms of the different roles within the organization that must keep their attention front and center on digital engagement, Fincioen said, “Everybody’s responsible … ranging from the product teams that are enabling digital ways to pay, to the teams teams integrating security protocols and solutions like biometrics.” Services and optimization teams also guide customers to leverage the right digital tools. Merchants, she said, are especially interested in deploying tokens and card-on-file solutions to guarantee the best checkout experience while generating sales to those merchants.

As she told PYMNTS, “The whole world is going through digital transformation, and payments — that enable the commercial interactions behind what’s going on in the world — need to go through that digital transformation as well.”

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