Addressing SIBOS: Financial Inclusion is a Basic Human Right
Financial inclusion is an idea whose time has come. It is a basic human right to which everyone should have access. In a few days I’ll be leaving for Dubai to attend SIBOS , where I will be discussing...
View ArticleMorning Brew: Digital Shopping and New Ways to Pay
MasterCard takes digital shopping to a new level at its annual technology showcase, and Morning Brew is in the middle of the action. Plus, thanks to MasterCardLabs, you can check out the future of...
View ArticleCashless Society: Forget Doable, is it Wearable?
I recently read that “cash is an inefficient way to store value and conduct transactions.” From this technologist’s point of view, of course it is! We live in a world where phrases like “wearable...
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Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due: EFL and MasterCard
Dennis DiDonna is Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of EFL Several years ago, research from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimated that the lack of credit information in emerging...
View ArticleThe Real Cost of Cash on the U.S. Market
An adage states that you have to spend money to make money. Consumers, businesses and governments also spend money to get, protect and move money. The use of dollars and coins costs the U.S. economy at...
View ArticleCashless Society in South Africa Advances with Blue Label Telecom
We recently marked a milestone in pursuit of a cashless society in South Africa, where we worked with Blue Label Telecom to open up electronic payment acceptance in less fortunate or excluded areas....
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MasterCard Helping to Power a Cashless Nigeria
This week I had the privilege of meeting with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and a delegation from the Nigerian government at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Nigerian economy and the...
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21st Century Economic Prosperity Relies on Public-Private Partnerships
Public-private partnership panel at Concordia 2013 includes Dan Gross from The Daily Beast, Andrew O’Brien from the U.S. State Department, Judith Rodin from The Rockefeller Foundation, Walt Macnee from...
View ArticleMorning Brew: What’s Your Digital DNA?
So who do you think you are, digitally speaking? Do you share a lot of personal information or make a lot of purchases online? We all have levels of comfort or different personas when it comes to...
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Morning Brew: Electronic Payments Key to Unlocking Myanmar’s Future
Electronic payments technology is the key to Myanmar’s future. After four decades of economic sanctions, the country is now embracing electronic payments — discovering they provide an extra layer of...
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The Road to Damascus: How ‘digital food’ is Helping Syrian Refugees
Over the last year I have had the privilege to work on MasterCard’s partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The partnership, which celebrated its one year anniversary this...
View ArticleFirst Travel Prepaid Card Launched in Myanmar
In September 2012, MasterCard was the first international payments network to issue a license to a Myanmar bank – Co-operative Bank Ltd (CB Bank) – an initiative that paved the way for international...
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Criticizing Cash: As a Fool’s Errand?
David Wolman is author of The End of Money, now out in paperback. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about relationships. No not that kind. I mean the relationships people have with different forms...
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Spare a Card Transaction? Cashless Society Meets Stockholm’s Homeless
Jacob de Geer is CEO and founder of iZettle We recently hit a milestone and took iZettle’s vision of democratising card payments to another level. We launched an initiative that enables homeless people...
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Public-Private Partnerships are Core to Financial Inclusion Ecosystem
Recently, the World Bank set a goal of universal financial access by 2020. And it’s an ambitious one when you consider 2.5 billion adults around the world lack access to basic financial tools. And in...
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A Future for Mobile Payments in Myanmar
Tommy Galloway is a graduate student at Tufts’ Fletcher School Myanmar is undergoing obvious and substantial changes in its policies of reform, and the country is facing new economic opportunities....
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FinScope South Africa Survey Says 75% of Population Now Banked
It’s always extremely rewarding to receive external endorsement of the great work MasterCard is doing in collaboration with governments and our financial partners to extend financial inclusion. The...
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First Mover Australians: Turning Mobile into Contactless Payments
To borrow a phrase from the CommBank blog, Australians can’t get enough of contactless payments. The country is the number one MasterCard PayPass market in the world, and now early-adopter Aussies...
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Mobile Money: Global Remittance is Financial Lifeline for Many
They sometimes walk for miles. They often wait on line for hours. Even when they get their money, they often risk getting robbed on the way back home. Despite the obstacles, for many families around...
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Morning Brew: Cashless Commerce Makes Holiday Shopping a Breeze
Morning Brew goes holiday shopping and finds how modern payments technology is changing a New York City institution. We talked to consumers who prefer to leave the fat wallet at home, as well as...
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#TBT How New is Wearable Technology?
Wearable technology, wearable devices, is one of the hottest topics at CES this year. Very cool stuff, indeed. Working for a technology company, I was curious.. when did this fad really begin? One...
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Six Things to Know About Chip Cards (EMV)
Carolyn Balfany, SVP Product Development at MasterCard, addresses EMV. She explains: a) what it is and b) how it will benefit the entire payments ecosystem. The days of credit and debit cards with...
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A View from Davos on Aligning Purpose with Societal Need
My first morning in Davos for the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, I attended a panel hosted by Edelman and the Financial Times releasing the findings of the Edelman Trust Barometer. For the...
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Contributing to the UAE’s e-Government Vision
It’s not very often that you hear of a summit that brings together heads of state, government and business leaders, and top global innovators to discuss how to advance ‘citizen happiness’. But as the...
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Delivering Safety and Security One Prepaid Transaction at a Time
I love sports analogies and one of the best is the old saying, “the best defense is a strong offense.” At MasterCard, protecting our cardholders is of the utmost importance; equally important is...
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