New Mastercard partnership aims to strengthen payments in MENA
MasterCard has continued its efforts to strengthen the payment area across various industries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Two new partnerships with Bahrain-based fintech Infinios Financial Services and UAE-based fintech Pay withaims to support B2B travel and consumer payments respectively.
B2B travel payments
Mastercard’s partnership with Infinios Financial Services looks set to increase liquidity for travel suppliers, such as travel agencies. The aim is to do this by offering increased transaction flexibility, transparency and security.
Infinios will also distribute Mastercard wholesale program to travel industry customers to help them secure, streamline and automate B2B travel transactions. Mastercard’s program is a virtual card-based B2B payment product and aims to offer “scalable and seamless” cross-border B2B payments.
The use of card payments continues to strengthen recovery for the travel economy. The new collaboration will see Infinios leverage Mastercard’s dynamic and transparent pricing structure tailored specifically to industry distribution, market and currency needs.
This partnership in Bahrain will also enhance major B2B travel payment flows and bring the travel ecosystem closer together to accelerate sustainable growth in the travel value chain.
Andrew Simsco-founder and CEO of Infinios Financial Services, said: “The combined strength of Infinios’ extensive technology capabilities and the pricing structures available through the Mastercard Wholesale Program will enable us to provide a further boost to the corporate travel industry as it continues to recover from the ill effects of the global pandemic.”
Khalid Elgibali, divisional president of MENA at Mastercard, also discussed the B2B payments partnership. Elgibali said: “As consumers regain the confidence to seek out and book travel experiences, legacy B2B payment processes threaten to hold the industry back. It is now important that organizations across the sector consider how their payment strategy can ensure growth and improve liquidity.
“Innovation must play its part to ensure that travel payments are not only easy and convenient but, more importantly, flexible and secure. Card payment technology provides the solid foundation from which the travel economy can not only grow, but thrive.”
MENA financial services for consumers
Astra Techits fintech arm PayBy, a UAE Central Bank-licensed fintech, has also become one of the first fintechs to obtain a Mastercard Master Membership license. This license enables Astra Tech to provide users with the full range of financial services.
Through the partnership, Astra can issue branded Mastercard digital and physical cards to millions of users on top of its platforms BOTIM and Payby, which offers authorization services and multi-currency prepaid cards. Astra is now also licensed to act as an acquirer, leveraging Mastercard’s suite of products including ‘Payment Gateway’, ‘Tap on Phone’ and ‘Fraud & Cyber Security’.
The partnership ensures that millions of users have access to Mastercard products, and expands the payment company’s global reach.
Abdallah Abu Sheikhco-founder and CEO of Astra Techsaid: “Our vision is to be the leading technology player in the MENA region. We are one of the largest technology companies in this part of the world, helping tens of millions of users daily.
“Our commitment is to make our users’ lives easier. Financial services are one of the most important and underdeveloped sectors in this part of the world. To take on this challenge, we chose to partner with a trusted and world-renowned company like Mastercard to ensure we provide the best service our users deserve.”
JK Khalil, managing director of the MENA East cluster at Mastercard, said: “At Mastercard, we enable fintechs to innovate and bring new digital payment solutions to market with speed and ease. We are excited to partner with Astra Tech’s PayBy and support their vision to further empower other fintechs through our BIN sponsorship services.”
