Mastercard Move: A Real Example of Closing the SME Cross-Border Gap

Quick Summary

Pratik Khowala, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard, sets out how Mastercard Move helps banks and fintechs close the SME cross-border gap: near real-time money movement across 200-plus countries and 150 currencies, extended into stablecoins through Mastercard's BVNK acquisition, all accessible through a single connection.

How does Mastercard Move help banks and fintechs serve SMEs?

Khowala starts with trust: "Mastercard brings trust to the ecosystem," built over decades through the card system. On top of that foundation, Mastercard Move has built network capability to move money in near real-time across more than 200 countries and 150 currencies.

What does the BVNK acquisition add?

Combined with the BVNK capability Mastercard has acquired, the same reach can now be delivered in a stablecoin world. Mastercard is also redesigning the user experience its bank and fintech partners can expose to their own customers.

What does a bank or fintech get through one connection?

Partners connect into Mastercard once and gain access to the full network: near real-time settlement, the full currency range, and a ready-made user experience they can put in front of their own customers. "That's a real value that we can bring to banks and fintechs," Khowala says.

FF NEWS TAKE:

200-plus countries and 150 currencies through a single connection is the kind of reach an individual bank or fintech could never build alone, which is exactly the pitch: Mastercard as infrastructure layer rather than competitor. Folding BVNK's stablecoin rails into the same access point signals Mastercard wants Move to be currency-agnostic, fiat or stablecoin, from a single integration.