Monday, March 4, 2013
MasterCard unveils MasterPass in Barcelona
At the recent 2013 Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, MasterCard Worldwide introduced MasterPass. MasterCard called its new digital wallet solution the "future of digital payments." The card brand said MasterPass is a cloud-based universal wallet that functions with any payment card and MasterPass-enabled device. Additionally, the wallet supports near field communication technology, quick response codes and tags, according to MasterCard.
"Every device is becoming a shopping device," said Ed McLaughlin, Chief Emerging Payments Officer at MasterCard. "MasterPass brings together all of the ways we pay for things, from traditional plastic cards to digital wallets, and gives consumers the ability to make a payment from wherever they are and with one simple experience."
MasterCard said MasterPass is the evolution of PayPass Wallet Services, which has been in pilot phase with select merchants and issuers. The card brand considers the wallet to be "open," meaning it supports branded credit, debit and prepaid cards other than MasterCard cards.
MasterCard quoted Patricia Hewitt, Director, Debit Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group, as saying, "MasterPass reflects this modern sensibility of agnostic-based design but leverages the muscle that only a global network can deliver."
Consumers will be able to sign up for the service through financial institutions (FIs) in Australia and Canada by the end of March, and in the United States and the United Kingdom later in the spring and summer, respectively. MasterCard intends to expand MasterPass availability in 2013 to other countries, including Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Spain and Sweden.
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