The digitalequaliser

Written by Tom WadlowProduced by George Tweed

Though it has been one of the

world’s best-established

financial operators for decades,

it is arguably the past 10 years which

has seen Mastercard’s most prolific

innovation and transformation drive,

spearheaded by a burgeoning

talent pool and demand for digital.

Innovation has been part of the

company’s culture since it was

founded. The company celebrated its

50th anniversary in November 2016.

Robert Reeg, now President of

Global Technology and Operations

for Mastercard, has been a part

of the company’s journey for 21

years and helped bring innovation

to the forefront of the minds of the

entire 10,000-strong workforce.

“Seven or eight years ago we

asked all our employees to look

at and rank us on a number of

different attributes. At the time,

innovation came in toward the

bottom of that list,” he says. “This

has been a huge focus point since,

getting across that message that

innovation is part of everybody’s

job, not just the tech guys or one

part of the group. We all have to

think how we can do things better.

“I had no idea we would grow as

fast as we have. The whole secular

shift from hard currency to digital

Mastercard is transforming the way millions of consumers are managing their money thanks to its innovating ethos and formidable talent base, developing technology which can bring vital financial services to unbanked people around the world

4 w w w. m a s t e r c a r d . u s 5

access to money has changed the

way people think about how they buy

things. The safety and convenience

of electronic versus carrying around

cash or writing cheques is now

clear and Mastercard has played

a massive part in that shift.”

The dual benefits of digital Two recent projects underline the

double-edged benefits of

payments digitisation

Reeg mentions. The

first is Masterpass,

an omni-channel

digital wallet

service that has

been rolled out

across the USA

and is available

to use at millions of

retail locations in dozens of

countries around the world.

Masterpass is a result of one

of MasterCard’s tried and tested

approaches to innovation and

recruitment of talent – investments

in disruptive technology companies.

Indian digital wallet expert

C-SAM was recently acquired by

Mastercard and its 350 mobile

software engineers have been

influential in deploying Masterpass.

“If you try to grow mobile

technology on your own it takes a

long time, so this acquisition allowed

us to enter the market very quickly,”

Reeg adds. “This is the next phase

in how digital money is going to be

managed – people need ease and

safety in making payments and

this is going to be key.”

Indeed, security is

the second major

advantage of digital

over traditional

payments. A key

area of focus for

Mastercard has been

development of biometric

verification, the company

is now piloting its Identity Check

system, or what the media has been

calling ‘selfie pay’. For transactions

up to a certain value, consumers

can take a picture of themselves

which is then verified when they go

to make their purchases. This builds

on the work already carried out on

fingerprint technology, which saw the

w w w. m a s t e r c a r d . u s 7

Number of employees at Mastercard

10,000+

launch of the world’s first contactless payment card

featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor in 2014.

“Biometrics is the next frontier,” Reeg says.

“The issue you have now is people hate trying to

remember 20 unique passwords, which actually

aren’t that secure, so there is a double benefit here

of convenience and security at the same time. I

believe that in the next five years biometrics will

become the primary method of verification.”

Expanding Mastercard’s reachThe Masterpass launch and acquisition of

C-SAM is one of many examples of Mastercard

acquisitions bearing fruit in terms of yielding

expertise. Although a lot of development is

carried out in-house, the company has made

that house significantly larger via a series of

acquisitions during the past few years.

Reeg continues: “One of the most significant was

the acquisition of Orbiscom in 2008, headquartered

in Dublin. They had a product we really liked that

we have re-named ‘In Control’, that helps people

manage where and who uses their digital money.

“Even more significant than the product itself,

however, have been the people we acquired, and

they have been key in changing the landscape

of innovation at Mastercard. Their CEO Garry

Lyons became our Chief Innovation Officer.”

Another acquisition, this time in the marketing

sphere, was the purchase of APT in Virginia in

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2015. Its Test and Learn product

helps companies tailor investments

and maximise bottom-line

impact by harnessing analytics

to design, measure and calibrate

marketing, merchandising,

operations and capital initiatives.

Start PathAcquisition is not the only route

Mastercard has taken with partner

companies, however. The Start

Path programme provides initial

support in start-up technology

companies, whether it be capital,

mentorship or office space to

help them get off the ground.

As part of the programme,

companies interested in working with

Mastercard apply for the different

cohorts. Mastercard selects

companies from those applicants and

partners with them to help them scale

up operations. By granting start-ups

access to its global ecosystem

and customer bases, it is also

widening its own knowledge base

in the process, as well as offering

another way to infuse innovative

thinking into the organisation.

Features of the initiative include

a six-month virtual programme

and two immersion weeks in

different Mastercard cities, with no

commitment required of the start-ups

to offer equity in return. Mastercard

employees from different disciplines

help mentor the companies, as well.

Honing talent Alongside the shift in consumer

behaviour to digital payments

has been a shift in Mastercard’s

internal approach to technology

and innovation, with tremendous

emphasis on gearing the company

towards younger recruits.

“The largest part of our workforce

today is made up of millennials, so

it’s key to make sure our workforce

is aware of how quickly things are

changing in technology, so we are

best positioned to take advantage

of new opportunities,” Reeg says.

“There’s no way of saying how

many members of our team work in

innovation, as we are all responsible

for it at Mastercard. Maybe 15 years

ago you could separate technology

or innovation people from others in

1 0

ROBERT REEGPresident, Mastercard Global Technology and Operations

Rob Reeg is president of MasterCard Operations & Technology (O&T). In this role, Reeg oversees the strategic processing platform, global network and quality of technology operations at MasterCard. Based in St. Louis, Missouri, he serves as a member of the company’s Management Committee.

Prior to joining MasterCard, Reeg held IT and business leadership positions with Sprint Corp., Cleveland Pneumatic, Totco Inc., and Conoco Inc.

Reeg serves on the University of Missouri-St. Louis Leadership Council, Washington University’s Wells Fargo Advisors Center for Finance and Accounting Research, Washington University’s Professional Degree Programs Academic Advisory Board, and the United Way of Greater St. Louis’ Technology Committee.

Reeg received a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University. He also served as a captain in the United States Army Reserve for eight years.

the business. This blending is just

going to keep on happening and

we no longer separate technology

from business – the traditional

R&D team ethos is ebbing away.”

Reeg also points to the role

CEO Ajay Banga has played in

transforming Mastercard into

a business that resonates with

millennial, tech-savvy workers.

“The motivations are different to

when I was joining workforces in

the late 1970s,” he adds. “Attracting

and retaining great talent from

schools and colleges is much

more competitive than ever before.

We know that by challenging

smart people to come in make

contributions right away, we offer

a different and more compelling

experience and a great place not

only to start, but grow a career.”

The company offers a reverse

mentoring initiative, which sees

younger employees share their

digital knowledge with more senior

colleagues, who in return provide

mentorship on the wider business

and valuable career advice.

“For someone like me, I get

coaching on the latest social media

tools, and having someone who is

straight out of college who has been

immersed in technology their entire

lives is such a help in this process,”

Reeg says. “In return I can help them

in terms of advancing their career in

the business. It’s a win-win for both

parties participating, and helps make

Mastercard a stronger company

overall with this relationship building.”

Retention and inclusionWhile attracting and developing

employees is paramount for an

innovating organisation such

as Mastercard, making sure

talented workers stay on at the

company in the medium-long

term is equally as important.

Extensive paternal and maternal

assurances, financial wellness

programmes, flexible working hours,

incentive schemes and education

support are among the benefits on

offer to staff. A culture of inclusion,

tolerance and diversity is also at the

forefront of Mastercard’s approach to

the working environment, led by Chief

Diversity Officer Donna Johnson.

w w w. m a s t e r c a r d . u s 1 31 2

“We know that by bringing together employees

of diverse background who combine their

thoughts, experiences and background, we can

advance innovation and offer more meaningful

products and solutions to our customers and

cardholders. It’s that simple – making sure you

empower employees to share their ideas and as a

leader, you listen. Our people truly are an amazing

asset as we think about what’s next in payments.”

“I’ve been here 21 years – I never thought

I’d work anywhere 21 years,” Reeg adds.

“It’s one of those places where you wake up

in the morning and want to come into work.

We work with great people in an exciting area

where the business is always changing.”

Mastercard is also active in encouraging more

women to pursue careers in technology. “The issue

in most developed countries is that there are fewer

and fewer women going into hard sciences,” Reeg

says. “We have a programme called Girls4Tech

where we start in middle school trying to help

influence girls and show the types of careers

that they can have in technology. Many young

women come in not sure if a career in tech is for

them – but once they go through the program,

they see many more options in front of them.

It’s both refreshing and encouraging to see.”

Girls4Tech has just completed research which

identifies the top two reasons for girls aged 12-19

not wanting to pursue a career in STEM (science,

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“I believe that in the next five years biometrics will become the primary method of verification”Robert Reeg, President of Global Technology and Operations

technology, engineering and maths)

subjects – difficulty of study and

a lack of interest in the subject

matter. This is where Mastercard’s

employees come in. Launched two

years ago, more than 5,000 girls

and 1,000 members of staff have

taken part in the programme across

11 countries. Mastercard has also

penned agreements with Be Better

and UN Women to take Girls4Tech

to China and Singapore respectively,

with the goal of reaching another

54,500 young women.

Equaliser Mastercard’s inclusive culture

ambitions stretch far beyond its

own recruitment and outreach

programmes. The ultimate endgame

is to use digital payments technology

as an equaliser across the world,

bringing vital financial services

to unbanked populations.

By continuing to innovate

and work with disruptive, fast-

moving technology companies,

Reeg believes Mastercard and

its workforce have a crucial

role to play in the future.

He concludes: “We have the

opportunity to help shape the

world and bring more people into

the formal economy. There are

two billion un-or-underbanked

people in the world — and we

want them to have the same

access that anybody else has.

“This is something that we can

continue to play a huge role in and

be proud of leading. Technology

is a great equaliser and we want

to help level that playing field

for everyone involved.”

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