Singapore

Mastercard has named longtime exec Rama Sridhar to the newly created role of executive vice president, digital and emerging partnerships for the Asia Pacific region.

A broad pilot to test contactless open-loop payments on Singapore's trains and buses will go live March 20, according to local mass-transit authorities and Mastercard, which is sponsoring the initiative.

Hong Kong and Singapore have long been economic crossroads. China and India are economies with vast populations. And Shenzhen is bursting with innovative creativity. All of these contribute to the Asian fintech market being far ahead in adoption and ecosystem creation.

The deployment comes as Singapore is in the midst of a broad digital initiative for the entire city.

The recent history of mobile wallets includes a lot of crashes and failures, but the people behind those projects are still around and are wiser for their experiences.