Forging a path for organizations to thrive
January 19, 2023 | By Amnah Ajmal
Fintech is growing – everywhere, but especially in the EEMEA region. Research suggests the market may exceed $2.5 billion this year. Furthermore, it is anticipated that finance-focused startups from Egypt to Saudi Arabia will be raising hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.
In this ecosystem full of potential, Mastercard has an important role to play. We are excited about nurturing the region’s fintech landscape through innovative strategy, strong collaboration, and acquisitions. Strengthening our own in-house capabilities remains a priority.
In addition, strategic acquisitions are vital to stay in step with the constantly evolving needs of customers and consumers across the EEMEA region.
Which brings me to some of the exciting acquisitions that are enabling Mastercard to bring new capabilities to our customers. They include SessionM, a loyalty provider that has helped brands such as Starbucks and L’Oréal to tap into the power of personalization and contextualization in real time. Mastercard has also acquired cryptocurrency intelligence business, CipherTrace, which offers insights into 900 cryptocurrencies.
Once we power these assets and capabilities with our data, our network, and our infrastructure, the impact on digital transformation and inclusion is huge.
It’s also how we help meet the needs of startups and SMEs, and as always collaboration is critical. We work with different players in the industry including fintechs, retailers, telcos, banks and governments. As an example, fintechs look to Mastercard’s loyalty solutions so they can increase their share of wallet. Our artificial intelligence capabilities help them to monetize the data. We also provide them with cyber risk assets, which helps them not only to take care of the risk that businesses face today, but also to futureproof their business. This support is vital for the fintech community.
Still, one of Mastercard’s most valuable roles in the digital ecosystem is helping companies to scale their business. To do this, we connect startups and SMEs with larger organizations that integrates Mastercard’s products and capabilities. By giving them the tools that they need to grow, we are shaping a superior consumer value proposition together.
