Mastercard

A real-time refund can allow travelers to quickly rebook after a cancellation, and instant credits can make longer airport waits more bearable, according to fintech experts.

Pushes for transparency on charitable donations and ghost guns, among others, were voted down.

"With ACH payments there's a latency in how they are processed; it can take two to five days. Things can happen," warns Silvana Hernandez, senior vice president of digital payments at Mastercard.

Visa is planning a raft of changes to rules for gas stations to allow larger transactions after a surge in fuel prices across the U.S. made it hard for some drivers to fill up using credit cards.

As Mastercard Installments nears launch, the card network is lining up tech partners to connect issuers to its buy now/pay later ecosystem.

The card brands have blocked Russia's large banks from their networks in response to the Ukraine invasion, a move that may dramatically limit retail transactions and cash availability at ATMs.

Mastercard said it will hire more than 500 young professionals this year as it expands its data and services unit, an effort that will include launching consulting practices focused on cryptocurrencies and open banking.

Michael Miebach told analysts that the card network expects earnings growth despite the economic impacts of the omicron variant and shipping delays. Mastercard does not have as contentious a relationship with the e-commerce giant as Visa does, he said.

A new service speeds payments by using artificial intelligence to predict which buyers are most likely to pay.

The card network is bringing Verizon into its innovation lab to turn more phones into payment acceptance devices and use the growing number of consumer gadgets and digital assistants to better verify consumer identities.

The card brand has been pitching itself as a testing ground for central bank digital currencies, a payment portal for stablecoins and — most recently — an accelerator for startups.

Startups focused on crypto and digital assets will now be able to join Mastercard’s Start Path program, which gives fledgling companies access to the network’s executives and technology to help them grow, Mastercard said.

The bank has agreed to act as a payment agent for the card brand's Track BPS to sign up participating businesses in the U.K. and Europe.

The Reserve Bank of India says the card brand failed to comply with a requirement to store transaction details locally. The handling of payment information has become a point of contention between the Asian nation and American firms.

The technology holds great promise for financial services, but it could be just as powerful for scammers looking to break payment card encryption. Visa, Mastercard and others are already building new defenses.

The card network and telco are designing systems that use 5G to support more payment processes hosted in the cloud rather than on local hardware. The goal is to make services such as autonomous checkout available to small businesses.

During lockdown, adoption of services like mobile order-and-pay, biometric authentication, contactless fare collection and digital currency accelerated. Consumers have more options than ever — and their behaviors will guide further innovation.

Teampay is using the card network's technology, which was first designed for the Apple Card, to offer virtual accounts for corporate spending.

The card brand has added a dedicated lane to its startup program to address the venture funding gap for race and gender. Overall, less than 3% of VC funding goes to startups with Black or Latinx founders.

Global Payments' TSYS subsidiary and BM Technologies will offer the program, which allows transgender and nonbinary consumers to use their preferred name on payment cards.