Mastercard is expanding its Engage platform in Latin America and the Caribbean to offer customers easy access to a growing network of qualified technology and fintech partners that can quickly deploy Mastercard Digital First solutions.

These solutions will enable customers to provide entirely digital payment experiences for consumers, from acquisition and card usage to management and engagement, with a physical card option.

Mastercard Engage is a part of the company’s Digital Vendor programme, which is a list of vendors serving issuers around the globe by helping them bring to market their Masterpass digital wallets and tokenise payment credentials hassle-free.

“It’s clear that the change we are witnessing in consumer behaviour across our region is here to stay. As consumers become more technologically savvy and mobile, innovation in payments has taken on a new urgency,”said Walter Pimenta, senior vice-president for product and innovation for Latin America and the Caribbean.

“With platforms like Engage, our issuer and merchant partners will be able to tap into the tech resources and integrations they need to elevate their payment options for the 21st-century consumer,” he continued.

The Mastercard Engage network includes companies that provide various components and integration capabilities across the digital first customer journey to deliver a seamless payment experience.

Some of the new partners joining Engage that can help expedite digital first implementation in Latin America and the Caribbean are: Galileo and Tutuka, issuer processors with instant issuance capabilities; G+D, Thales and Verestro, end-to-end digital first enablers; MO Technologies and Juvo, innovative alternative credit scoring models providers; and Provenir, real-time risk decision-making enablers.

The programme is now open to support Digital First deployment, provide on-the-ground assistance and training through the Mastercard Academy, and facilitate promotion to Mastercard’s extensive customer base.

“Mastercard has a long history of working with technology and fintech partners to develop the future of payments. The evolution of the Mastercard Engage platform demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to help merchants build out their own digital first consumer journey,” the company stated.