Mastercard is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York.
What does AI mean to Mastercard, and how has it evolved within the company?
AI has been central to our operations for nearly two decades. We have been using it in different forms, evolving from machine learning to predictive AI and now incorporating generative AI. AI plays a key role in processing the 143 billion transactions we handle annually, helping to predict and prevent fraudulent activity and cyber-attacks. Over time, we have expanded to a broader set of data, from basic transaction information to device-based data, biometric data, and IP addresses, which gives us stronger insights to better infer consumer authenticity. This evolution has enabled us to derive and evaluate a trillion data points in real time, improving our ability to help banks and merchants make smarter decisions. Our systems analyze all of these data points within milliseconds, ensuring fraud detection and prevention remain at the forefront of what we do.
Fraud is a significant concern—how much fraud do you prevent, and what measures do you use to combat it?
We help prevent billions in fraudulent transactions across the ecosystem. Our Safety Net solution alone blocked $20 billion worth of fraud in 2023 by analyzing patterns across our entire network. Safety Net looks beyond individual transactions, identifying suspicious activity and cyberattacks that could compromise credentials and lead to fraud. We extend these fraud prevention capabilities beyond just our own network, supporting other networks and partners around the world. The sheer scale of the fraud detection we provide underlines how critical our role is in mitigating cybersecurity risks, ensuring that both banks and consumers are protected from financial losses.
A lot of people still think of Mastercard as a piece of plastic, but how is Mastercard evolving within the broader payment ecosystem?
We are focused on using technology, our expertise, and our people to bring value in every interaction and transaction, whether it is between businesses or consumers. Over the last decade, we have invested heavily in expanding the ways payments can be made and received, moving beyond card payments to include account-to-account transfers, real-time payments, cross-border disbursements, and remittances.
We also offer a broad range of value-added services, such as fraud prevention, cybersecurity management, and identity verification. While we are often characterized as a credit card company, the truth is we are a technology company operating in the payments space. Our goal is to empower consumers and businesses by providing secure, seamless experiences, adapting to the evolving needs of the payment ecosystem.
How is the payments ecosystem and open banking changing in the U.S. when compared to trends in Europe where neobanks like Monzo and Revolut have made significant strides?
The U.S. payment landscape is changing rapidly, especially post-COVID, with a significant shift toward digital payments. Consumer expectations are evolving due to advances in technology, and financial services are being pushed to keep up. Consumers expect to engage seamlessly with digital devices and services, and that shift is driving the financial sector to adapt.
Open banking is also an important trend. It has developed differently in the U.S. compared to Europe. However, open banking is still a powerful catalyst for innovation in the U.S. as well. Our role is to ensure that the evolving ecosystem remains secure, giving consumers and businesses confidence in how their financial data is handled.
Increasingly, there are more players in the payment space. How do you maintain your competitive edge?
Payments have never been more competitive than they are today, with a range of new players and technologies entering the market. Trust is at the core of our brand, and ensuring that our transactions remain safe, secure, and seamless is our top priority. One of the biggest challenges we face is keeping ahead of the bad actors who use rapidly evolving technologies to exploit vulnerabilities. Staying ahead of these threats requires constant vigilance and innovation. Our role in ensuring that every Mastercard-branded transaction is secure is something we take very seriously, and it is a responsibility that never ends.
What keeps you up at night when thinking about Mastercard’s future?
The scope of opportunities ahead of us is vast, and ensuring we are targeting the right spaces keeps me focused. We have ongoing growth opportunities, especially with the migration toward digital payments and the explosion of data associated with those payments. The challenge is ensuring we are investing in the right technologies and solutions that will drive value for our partners and their customers. It is essential to balance our focus between established areas of the business and emerging technologies like open banking, blockchain, and AI. Knowing when to shift from experimentation to full-scale investment is crucial.
How do you balance higher-risk innovation with being focused on Mastercard’s “bread-and-butter”?
In more established areas, we focus on scaling proven strategies that have a significant impact on our partners and customers. However, in emerging areas like new approaches to generative AI, blockchain, and open banking, we remain open to experimentation. This allows us to test, learn, and adapt our approach to these evolving technologies. Token technology is a good example of this. Just ten years ago, it was in its early stages, and now we process over 4 billion tokenized transactions each month. Balancing structured experimentation with strategic investment allows us to stay ahead of the curve and deliver the innovations that will shape the future of payments.
Looking ahead to the future—how will life for Americans change in the next three to five years in the context of the digital economy and payments?
By 2030, we expect the pace of digitization to accelerate further, offering consumers more payment choices and personalized experiences. However, with this increased digitization, we also foresee growing risks around fraud and cybersecurity. Our focus will remain on ensuring trust and security within the payment ecosystem, continually investing in technologies that enhance privacy and data protection.
We are also deeply committed to financial inclusion, enabling more consumers and small businesses to gain access to digital payments.
Expanding the reach of secure, reliable payment solutions will not only fuel economic growth but also help address the digital risks that come with a rapidly evolving landscape. Our role is to ensure that payments continue to be safe, accessible, and trusted for all.
