Business Briefs
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MASTERCARD has set a goal to connect 40 million micro and small merchants to its electronic payments network within five years. This expands on the company’s Universal Financial Access 2020 commitment made last year.
To date, MasterCard’s financial inclusion has been predominantly centred on providing the underserved and the unbanked with tools and transaction accounts. This remains a critical need with two billion unbanked people, the majority of whom are women, forced to operate in a cash economy.
In order for financial inclusion efforts to truly have an impact, there needs to be an equal focus on both access and usage and since 2013, MasterCard has delivered programs and services to more than 200 million people previously excluded from the financial mainstream. The company is committed to reaching at least 500 million by 2020.
Through broad-based collaboration with public and private sector entities, MasterCard is bringing the benefits and security of electronic payments to the unbanked around the world. In Rwanda, MasterCard is collaborating with the government to fast-track the country’s move to include 90 percent of its citizens in the financial mainstream, as set out in its Vision 2020 strategy.
In Egypt, MasterCard is helping the government roll out a digital ID programme that links citizens’ national ID to the existing national mobile money platform, allowing 54 million Egyptians to participate in the formal electronic economy through a single easy-to-use cashless programmes.
In Bangladesh, bKash, Western Union, BRAC Bank and MasterCard launched an international remittance service that gives bKash’s 22 million registered customers the ability to receive international remittances directly into their bKash mobile wallet.
— Jul 25, 2016 @ 01:00 GMT
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