“While there has been a massive shift to digital payments this year, close to 50 million people in the U.S. remain underbanked,” points out Sudhir Jha, Mastercard senior vice president and head of Brighterion. In “A Look Forward: What Executives Wish for America and the World in 2021,” Jha dives into how Mastercard has responded to the challenges of 2020 with innovative programs that aim to bring unbanked people into the formal economy.
2020 has been a very interesting year. For the first time in my life, we’ve had so many changes and big events at the same time. But I remain optimistic. I’m hoping that commerce and financial institutions (FIs) continue to think of this as a chance to build communities and grow the economy in ways that are future-looking, such as finding businesses that can be funded to come back to life.
At Mastercard, we committed $250 million over five years to support small businesses around the world and $8 million to U.S. community development FIs to digitize loan processes and ensure capital flows securely to underserved businesses. My wish is not only to get people back in the system, but also to get people into the system who were not there before.
We’ve launched innovative programs in more than 125 countries, successfully bringing 500 million previously unbanked individuals into the formal economy. Our goal is to reach one billion by 2025. While there has been a massive shift to digital payments this year, close to 50 million people in the U.S. remain underbanked. We’re working with 200-plus cities across the U.S. to enable digital financial aid disbursements, provide data science expertise to enable channel investments for underserved communities, provide cybersecurity and fraud assistance, and increase access to vital city programs.
It is both interesting and enlightening to see so many good things happening during such a turbulent time. That makes me hopeful for the future.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
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