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“Money is as old
as time. What we
do with it is new,
and constantly
changing.”
years. These innovative partnerships are fueling the
next generation of financial products and services.
As a source of counsel and growth for fin-
techs around the world, Mastercard has expanded
its level of collaboration between fintechs and
established technology companies. Jess Turner,
executive vice president, product and innovation
at Mastercard, North America, says these partner-
ships are helping bring scale and innovation to the
market more quickly.
“In today’s world, everyone’s trying to provide
fantastic user experiences by joining up and part-
nering and really sharing each other’s technology,”
Turner says. For example, in pursuit of Mastercard’s
goal to support the ambitions of fintech players, it
is making co-creation easier for fintechs and digital
players through a variety of collaborative, tailored
support arrangements, such as access to insights,
tools, and technology.
Turner cites the Mastercard Labs innovation
hub and Start Path, its startup program, as two ex-
amples of collaboration that’s helping to bring new
payment and commerce ideas to life. These teams
work with banks and merchant partners, startups,
and the fintech community
to identify and experiment
with future technologies
and bring products to mar-
ket quickly. The company is
also working with partners
to build platforms that
facilitate co-creation and
collaboration, developingturnkey solutions for licenses, contractual agree-
ments, and more.
“Payments and financial services are having
a renaissance moment,” Turner says. “In today’s
digitally connected world, the way we interact in
our daily lives has changed drastically. Leveraging
its foundation as a technology company in the pay-
ments environment, Mastercard remains commit-
ted to ensuring that every person or business has
choice, flexibility, and peace of mind in managing
and moving their money.”CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND INNOVATION
Creating financial peace of mind is core to the
fintech revolution, says Mike Massaro, CEO of global
payments company Flywire. This means fintechs
must stay nimble and offer products and services
that help both consumers and businesses become
more productive. It also means providing multiple
options for how they want to transact.
Usually, Massaro says, consumers are willing to
use multiple accounts and financial services provid-
ers if it means improving the customer experience.
“ The consumer wants choice but not complex-
ity,” says Massaro, whose Boston-based company
enables the cross-border and domestic payment
and receivables process with flexible solutions
tailor-made for industries including health care,
education, and travel. “Consumers are feeling more
comfortable testing and using different products.
It’s a massive trend that I think will continue.”
Customer feedback derived from product test-
ing will inevitably lead to insights that will inform
the next iteration of fintech
products and services, which,
according to Massaro, will be even
more seamless and efficient than
they are today.
“In the future, money will be
faster, more reliable, and more
transparent,” he says.PRIVACY AND SECURITY
A key issue in fintech is data pro-
tection and privacy—two crucial
factors that build trust among
consumers and businesses.
Money20/20’s editor in chief,
Sanjib Kalita, believes the future
of financial services will not only