Rolling the Fintech Wheel

To this date, we have seen plenty of discussions and debates about human growth, but none of them have seemingly done a good enough job in applauding the genius of human beings. If we are to shed some more light on it, we’ll have to take a look at our masterplan for achieving the said purpose. This masterplan talks to the fascinating way in which we have staggered our growth across different trends. We might not necessarily have an active interaction with every single trend out there in the world, but the ripple effects of it are still somewhere felt by us. Furthermore, in order to make sense of these trends, we have also segmented them into different sectors, thus creating just the right basis for sustainable progression. While the nature of what’s happening in these sectors is certainly poles apart, the goal of taking that next step is fulfilled nonetheless. One such sector that played a massive part in bringing us to where we stand today is of finance. Finance is probably one of the most important spheres you can have across the board. In fact, people and institutions that are not even a part of this industry are also heavily reliant on the products it brings to the table. Nevertheless, it’s all prepared to go up a notch, as Mastercard blows out the war siren.

Mastercard has officially confirmed the launch of its latest point of sales payments programme, Installments. The programme will allow banks, lenders, fintechs, and payment wallets to offer Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services packaged together with a variety of incentives such as zero percent interest, pay-in-four model, and more. These services will be compatible with online, as well as offline stores.

“Mastercard Installments has been built on our guiding principles to protect consumers and enable choice without sacrificing trust and security. It is a digital-focused way to pay today and tomorrow, delivered through consumer’s most trusted relationships with their banks and other lenders, at merchants of their choice,” Craig Vosburg, Chief Product Officer at Mastercard.

The initial geographic rollout will see U.S., Australia, and UK getting the service. Within US, the programme will work in collaboration with Barclays, SoFi, Huntington and a host of other companies. As per the others details shared by Mastercard’s camp, the company has also locked in plans to use Open Banking Technology through Fincity U.S. for using consumer data in the context of running affordability checks on applicants.

Mastercard’s decision to go the BNPL way was somewhat expected by the analysts, as it looks like the service is now here to stay for the foreseeable future. If that wasn’t enough, the company’s direct rival, Visa has been making all the right moves lately to become the favorite of fintech enthusiasts, so it was about time that Mastercard pushed itself back into the mix.