New Mastercard Digital Platform Launched

Mastercard has announced a new platform (in the US initially) which issuers can offers to their customers called Assemble.  The first product allows millennials to manage money through a digital prepaid account, a mobile app and a payment card (virtual or physical).

Its a great example of the emerging digital tools aimed to build loyalty, by assisting customers with additional money management features, delivered digitally, as predicted in our Banking Innovation Life Life Cycle.

Mastercard is currently developing additional use cases to support prepaid programs for additional segments such as underserved consumers and microbusinesses, and the gig economy. Mastercard Assemble for Millennials is available now in the United States with other markets being targeted within the next year.

In our fast-paced lives, each one of us is juggling a lot – careers, relationships, social events, families, the list is endless. So why should we stress about banking and trying to manage multiple apps? Why not have one centralized, secure account to cover all of our banking needs? BigSpender

Mastercard has a new platform and product to do just that:

  • Assemble is a prepaid innovation hub that issuers and partners will offer to customers with holistic money management capabilities including checking balances, budgeting, setting savings goals and making near-real time payments to almost anyone in the U.S. with a valid debit card via a P2P service powered by Mastercard Send.
  • The first product available from Assemble is geared toward millennials and, along with the features above, offers consumers a simple, smart and safe way to manage money through a digital prepaid account, a mobile app and a payment card (virtual or physical).

“Prepaid is much more than just a way to safely store and use funds. It is a foundation to create new possibilities for consumers,” said Tom Cronin, senior vice president, Global Prepaid Product Development and Innovation, Mastercard. “This technology enables our partners to deliver best-in-class digital experiences today, as we work to address additional segments such as gig economy workers and underserved consumers and micro businesses.”

Mastercard Assemble not only bundles assets and services together but also enables these digital prepaid solutions to promote innovation, increase the speed to market, and provide customers with seamless and secure usage. Issuers and partners can choose to deploy a white-label version of the solution or to integrate specific functions into their current user interfaces through APIs.

While Mastercard Assemble for Millennials will be the first launch, the company is currently developing additional use cases to support prepaid programs for additional segments such as underserved consumers and microbusinesses, and the gig economy. Mastercard Assemble for Millennials is available now in the United States with other markets being targeted within the next year.

Mastercard and Partners Show Augmented Reality Shopping

From Brand Channel.

As shoppers look for more secure payment transactions and engaging in-store and online/mobile experiences, Mastercard is using augmented reality to deliver on that as well as enhance the overall retail experience.

Mastercard chose Money20/20 in Las Vegas this week to demonstrate how its Masterpass solution seamlessly enhances an AR-based retail shopping experience that uses iris authentication for a simpler, security-focused solution.

In Mastercard’s vision, shoppers can view digital representations of products before purchase, learn more about them and see additional options not available in the physical location along with access to instant recommendations.

To complete a purchase, users can pay using Masterpass and iris authentication, technology developed by Qualcomm, selecting a card from their Masterpass-enabled wallet and press the Masterpass button on the screen. Items can be taken home or shipped depending on availability.

“At Mastercard, we are seeing major shifts in how commerce is conducted, as people lead increasingly connected, digital lifestyles,” stated Sherri Haymond, EVP, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard.

“As the physical and digital worlds blend together, we are focused on developing solutions that provide merchants with the ability to accept payments across all technology platforms possible—in-store, in-app, online, and in AR and VR—to help drive how people will experience shopping and payments in the future.”

In Las Vegas, the partners also used the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, marks and likeness to showcase the physical retail environment.

Neeraj Bhatia, Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. said in the release, “Qualcomm Technologies’ iris authentication and extended reality technologies for Snapdragon 835 are designed to support a future generation of contextually aware commerce experiences using secure, augmented reality. We are delighted to work with Mastercard and Saks Fifth Avenue to showcase new AR experiences on ODG’s sleek smart glassed based on our Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform.”

The partners designed a Money20/20 experience to inspire brands and merchants to dream up new ways of enhancing the in-store shopping experience. Part of it is about drive sales by delivering additional content and information during shopping, leveraging:

  • Masterpass, the digital payment service from Mastercard, and Identity Check Mobile, which enables users making purchases to authenticate with physical traits including fingerprint, facial and voice recognition software;
  • ODG’s expertise to lead the development of the AR shopping experience, as well as its award-winning extra-wide-field-of-view R-9 smartglasses with enhanced iris tracking cameras; and
  • Snapdragon 835 Mobile Platform running the Snapdragon XR SDK and iris authentication technology with liveliness detection for a superior authentication experience.

Mastercard is betting on AR to “reshape the retail environment, making it more immersive and efficient.”

Ralph Osterhout, Founder and CEO at ODG said in the release, “This solution showcases the transformative nature of augmented reality in the retail space and highlights the power and performance of ODG smartglasses and the unparalleled potential for headworn AR to change the way we see and experience the world.”

Michael Miebach, Mastercard, Chief Product Officer explained the company’s ambitions for impacting “the lives of the underbanked and underserved.”

Mastercard Opens-Up Access to Blockchain API for Partner Banks and Merchants

Mastercard announced in New York that it will be opening up access to its blockchain technology via its API published on Mastercard Developers.

Mastercard’s blockchain solution provides a new way for consumers, businesses and banks to transact and is key to the company’s strategy to provide payment solutions that meet every need of financial institutions and their end-customers. The Mastercard blockchain API will be part of the Money 20/20 hackathon in Las Vegas next week.

The company has tested and validated its blockchain and will initially implement the technology in the business-to-business (B2B) space to address challenges of speed, transparency and costs in cross-border payments. The Mastercard blockchain technology will complement the company’s existing capabilities including virtual cards, Mastercard Send and Vocalink to support all types of cross-border, B2B payment flows – account-based, blockchain-based and card-based.

There are four key differentiators of the Mastercard blockchain – privacy, flexibility, scalability, and most importantly, the reach of the company’s settlement network.

  • Privacy – Mastercard blockchain provides privacy by ensuring that transaction details are shared only amongst the participants of a transaction while maintaining a fully auditable and valid ledger of transactions.
  • Flexibility – Partners can use the blockchain APIs in conjunction with a wider suite of Mastercard APIs to create a range of powerful, new applications. Software development kits are available in six different languages to make the APIs even easier to integrate.
  • Scalability – Mastercard blockchain is designed for commercial processing speed and extensibility by reaching consensus between a trusted network moderator and network participants.
  • Reach – Mastercard blockchain is integrated into the company’s payment network that includes 22,000 financial institutions to move funds that have been committed on the blockchain.

“By combining Mastercard blockchain technology with our settlement network and associated network rules, we have created a solution that is safe, secure, auditable and easy to scale,” said Ken Moore, executive vice president, Mastercard Labs. “When it comes to payments, we want to provide choice and flexibility to our partners where they are able to seamlessly use both our existing and new payment rails based on the needs and requirements of their customers.”

Mastercard blockchain solution has the ability to power secure and seamless non-card payment transactions such as business-to-business payments and trade finance transactions. It also has the ability to power non- payment solutions such as proof of provenance that helps authenticate products across the supply chain.

With this proprietary solution, Mastercard hopes to create new benefits for its partners and make the commerce ecosystem easier, faster and safer. In addition to building a new solution, the company has also filed for over 35 patents in blockchain and invested in Digital Currency Group, a collaborator that builds, incubates and seeds Bitcoin and blockchain technology-related companies. It recently joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance to explore the possibilities of the Ethereum technology across a wide range of potential use cases, many of them well outside the scope of Mastercard’s traditional payments environment. In addition, Mastercard is also working on new use cases with startups that are a part of its Start Path Global program.

Asia Pacific leads digital wallet adoption

Asia Pacific leads the world when it comes to digital wallet usage via mobile and smart devices as revealed in the 2017 Mastercard Digital Payments study. Payments via ewallet tops 83% of APAC conversations compared to 75% of global conversations tracked in the 2017 study.

Consumers are also showing an increased interest in the application of new technologies to make shopping faster, easier and more secure. The topic of virtual reality generated the most positive sentiment globally and in Asia Pacific (100% positive) among emerging technology topics, as shoppers imagine completing a purchase with the simple nod of their head.

“Technology is making the promise and the potential of a less-cash life a reality for more people every day,” said Marcy Cohen, vice president of digital communications at Mastercard. “This year’s study notes a change in the level of interest for new ways to shop and pay that only a few years ago would have seemed farfetched.”

Embracing emerging technologies

The increased acceptance of digital wallets in-store, online and in-app generated more than 2 million mentions, with 84% of them taking place on Twitter. Beyond the payment, consumers looked forward to additional functionality like storing loyalty cards and supporting closed-loop public transportation systems.

Technologies like artificial intelligence and smart home assistants were the second most discussed payment topic throughout 2016. These new ways to pay generated particularly strong consumer interest in the fourth quarter, as people discussed how they might shop with newer, smarter devices.

In Asia Pacific, 93% of surveyed consumers spoke positive of wearables as a potential payment channel.

Smart assistants, virtual reality and artificial intelligence also emerged as new payment technology interests. Consumers across North America showed an increased interest throughout the year in the simplicity of sending and receiving mobile payments with one comment to a smart assistant.

The Internet of Things was a hot topic with the majority of conversations taking place in North America (44%) and Europe (34%). Discussion centered on the Internet of Things becoming the Internet of Payments where payments could be enabled in any connected device.

In their conversations, people continually noted that the success of new technologies and new ways to pay will be dependent on the security and protections delivered beyond what’s available today.

Forty-five percent of consumers in Asia Pacific are interested in biometrics and other forms of authentication to deliver enhanced security, reduce fraud and move beyond traditional passwords. Facial recognition, fingerprint and touch authentication topped 66% of conversations. The region appeared more open to these emerging technologies compared to the global average of 43% and 51% respectively.

The study also revealed frustration over activities involving the use of conventional passwords, including entering, forgetting and resetting passwords and expressed interested in getting rid of passwords altogether with easier, improved authentication.