Mastercard has partnered with Scale, an issuer orchestration partner, to streamline the deployment of payment programmes for fintechs across Africa and the Middle East.
The collaboration aims to overcome technical and commercial barriers, enabling fintechs and other ecosystem players to focus on core business functions while launching new products efficiently.
The partnership will also support BIN sponsorships, enhance customer experience, and provide a comprehensive ecosystem service to drive growth and financial inclusion in the region. This will also enable quicker roll-out of payment programmes for fintech companies, banks, telcos, retailers, payment service providers and aggregators
Amnah Ajmal, executive vice president, market development, EEMEA, Mastercard, said: “At Mastercard, we are committed to working with local ecosystem players to drive the growth of innovative payment solutions across the region with the aim of bridging the digital gap, enhancing financial inclusion and improving access to financial services. With its in-depth knowledge of the fintech landscape, Scale is our ideal partner in achieving these goals.”
Mastercard and Scale will support fintech companies and other ecosystem players in securing BIN sponsorships, building sustainable unit economics, designing and commercialising their card and other payment programmes, productization, as well as assessing profitability models for their programmes.
Point of contact
The collaboration will evolve into a technology proposition, enabling any tech company to acquire the Mastercard issuing capability through Scale.
“Fintech companies move at speed and require commercially viable collaborations with experienced companies that cater to a cost-sensitive market,” said Miranda Perumal, co-founder and CEO, Scale.
“Through our exciting partnership with Mastercard, we are solving a major pain point and providing a single point of contact while absorbing the complexities of seeking a bank BIN sponsor, third-party processor and other payment solution providers.
“This combined ecosystem service allows fintech players to focus on their core business, and us to focus on ours – streamlining processes, enabling payments and supporting the program’s growth to earn revenues faster,”
Mastercard will plug in its managed services into the partners’ systems and run their card programme implementation from end to end. In the post-launch period, Scale will assist the partners in growing their portfolios, driving revenues and achieving profitability by understanding consumer behaviours, market dynamics and competitors.