Mastercard and TransferWise on Monday announced an expanded partnership to enable the issuance of cards in any market around the world. — Photo courtesy of Mastercard
Mastercard and TransferWise have announced an expanded partnership to enable the issuance of cards in any market around the world where Mastercard is accepted and TransferWise is licensed for its multi-currency borderless account.
“We’re focused on our mission to make moving money around the world faster, cheaper and easier for everyone, everywhere, including right here in Asia Pacific,” said Venkatesh Saha, Head of APAC & Middle East Expansion, TransferWise. “To date over 1 million debit cards have been issued to people wanting to make the most of what our borderless accounts have to offer. We’re excited to continue and build upon our partnership with Mastercard and look forward to bringing this service to Japan later this year.”
“In a region with rapidly growing cross border e-commerce, Mastercard is proud to collaborate with TransferWise to provide a multi-currency debit card solution for consumers and small businesses in Asia Pacific to make easy, cost-effective and transparent foreign currency purchases,” said Rama Sridhar, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Digital and Emerging Partnerships, New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.
In Asia Pacific, TransferWise now partners with Mastercard in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, with Japan due to launch later this year. The expansion of the relationship will allow a route to market in nearly all countries around the region.
The Mastercard and TransferWise teams have also worked collaboratively to enable Apple and Google Pay, Fitbit and Garmin Pay for all TransferWise cards.
In addition to card issuance, by leveraging Mastercard Send™ TransferWise has launched the capability for TransferWise account holders to be able to send money in near-real time to any Mastercard card in European countries including Spain, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Croatia and Russia.
In Viet Nam, Mastercard is working with CARE International to assist banks and fintechs to tailor financial services and products to bring women into the financial system and catalyse business growth among women entrepreneurs. The goal is to reach more than one million Vietnamese women. — VNS