Mastercard announced that it has launched Mastercard Pay Local, a new global service that enables digital wallet users in Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and Africa to pay locally when they travel.
The service enables international travellers to link their credit or debit cards to their digital wallet and immediately shop at any participating merchant that accepts digital wallet payments, without needing to set up or top up a prepaid account.
Announcing the service ahead of this week’s Singapore FinTech Festival, Mastercard namechecked wallets such as DANA in Indonesia, Touch 'n Go in Malaysia, Bakong in Cambodia, and LankaPay in Sri Lanka, all of which will use Mastercard Pay Local to facilitate payments for consumers at the more than 35 million merchants in Asia-Pacific that accept these wallets.
Mastercard said the service enables residents and travellers alike to pay micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that don’t accept traditional card payments, which in turn gives those MSMEs more reach. Meanwhile, digital wallet service providers can extend their customer base to people who primarily use cards, while card issuers can provide more points of acceptance for their customers.
"Locals benefit from new payment options while tourists can use their cards as they do at home, making travel infinitely easier, with one less thing to worry about while on the road,” said Sandeep Malhotra, EVP of Products and Innovation, Asia Pacific, at Mastercard.
Mastercard added that the service builds on its existing collaborations with wallet providers such as Alipay and Weixin Pay in China, GrabPay in Southeast Asia, Maya in the Philippines, ShopBack in Singapore and TrueMoney in Thailand.