Mastercard

So far, 2019 has been characterized by a series of eye-catching strategic deals within the global payments ecosystem, with new players positioning themselves to rival Visa and Mastercard. The card networks giants have responded by pursuing a strategy to become less reliant on transactional fees.

Mastercard is expanding its Girls4Tech education outreach program with new partnerships, and tightening the focus on subjects broadly in demand in the payments industry.

Two months after Mastercard lawyers urged an English appeals court to follow the lead of antitrust judges that had tossed out a multi-billion pound class action lawsuit from U.K. consumers over credit card charges, that appeals court has ruled against the credit card giant.

By Mastercard’s own reckoning, the point-of-sale financing space is a $1.8 trillion market in the U.S. alone, making its Vyze acquisition a natural way to pursue an opportunity that’s being gobbled up by fintechs and card alternatives.

Mastercard’s real-time incentive marketing initiative is an acknowledgement that requiring consumers to take action to seize a special deal won’t work as well in the mobile age.

Mastercard is calling for a global consumer digital identity bill of rights to be adopted by businesses, governments and regulators as it prepares to launch a digital ID management service later this year.

Mastercard and MercadoPago, the payments arm of Latin American e-marketplace MercadoLibre, see opportunities for contactless prepaid cards among unbanked consumers even though local issuers have been slow to adopt the format.

Mastercard has joined forces with Microsoft, Workday and the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service to recruit younger prospects to work with the CIA, the FBI, the DoD and the EPA battling global cyberattacks.

System breaches similar to events at Equifax and Marriott could just as easily happen to credit unions, leading Mastercard and the credit union service organization, PSCU, to take protective measures.

Business payments software provider Bill.com will offer Mastercard virtual cards as part of its automated accounts payable platform for small and midsize businesses.