Mastercard Incorporated Stock Price, News & Analysis

Mastercard is expanding its Priceless Planet Coalition's global restoration portfolio with three new sites and six expanded projects. The initiative, comprising over 150 corporate partners, aims to fund the restoration of 100 million trees worldwide. New restoration sites include the High Andes, Eastern Himalayas in India, and Thailand's Kaeng Krachan National Park. The coalition is also expanding existing projects across Madagascar, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Malawi. As of 2023, the coalition has supported the planting of millions of trees, over 600 plant species, and created 1.2 million workdays globally.

Mastercard has unveiled Mastercard Move Commercial Payments, a groundbreaking solution for near real-time commercial cross-border payments. Announced at the Sibos conference in Beijing, this innovation aims to transform how banks handle international transactions, addressing key challenges in the rapidly growing cross-border payment market.

Key features include:

• 24/7/365 near real-time payments
• Flexible settlement options for improved liquidity management
• Reduced counterparty risk with multilateral arrangements
• Compatibility with existing Swift infrastructure and correspondent banking systems
• Value-added services like risk control and fraud analytics

A pilot program in the UK, involving Lloyds Banking Group and UBS with Fnality as the settlement venue, is already underway. This solution is part of Mastercard's broader Move portfolio, designed to facilitate swift and secure fund transfers both domestically and internationally.

Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) has announced it will release its third quarter 2024 financial results on Thursday, October 31, 2024. The company will host a conference call to discuss these results at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Financial results will be posted on the company's website at investor.mastercard.com, with an alert issued over a news wire when the earnings materials are publicly available.

Conference call details include:

• Toll-free dial-in: 1-888-330-2508
• Toll dial-in: 1-240-789-2735
• Conference ID: 6451878

Mastercard hosted a Climate Week Welcome Reception in New York, coinciding with the UN General Assembly and New York Climate Week. The event brought together leaders, activists, and entrepreneurs to highlight solutions that address the intersection of people and planet. Mastercard emphasized the importance of financial and digital inclusion in creating resilient futures in a climate-vulnerable economy.

The company showcased two of its initiatives: Community Pass and the Priceless Planet Coalition. These programs aim to drive impact by empowering people with digital financial tools, enabling them to adapt and thrive in the face of climate change. Mastercard reaffirmed its commitment to connecting and powering an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere.

Cantaloupe, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTLP) has launched its AdVantage program, enabling brands to engage consumers through digital advertising on Cantaloupe's point-of-sale (POS) touchscreen devices across the U.S. and Canada. The program's inaugural campaign partners with Mastercard to support the Priceless Planet Coalition, aiming to restore 100 million trees worldwide.

The three-month digital campaign encourages consumers to donate to Conservation International. Cantaloupe will match donations up to $500,000. Donors contributing $4 or more can enter a sweepstakes for prizes, including trips to Cantaloupe-powered venues and Mastercard Prepaid Cards.

The AdVantage Program offers brands flexible campaign options on Cantaloupe's Engage touchscreen card readers and self-checkout kiosks, guaranteeing up to 1 million impressions per campaign. Operators benefit from revenue sharing for ad impressions, while brands can tailor their POS advertising strategies.

Mastercard has announced that South Africa will be the first market globally to benefit from immediate Mastercard card payments. This initiative aims to enable acquiring banks to process real-time card payments, allowing merchants to receive faster payouts and better manage their cashflow. The enhancements will introduce real-time clearing and more frequent settlement cycles, aligning with the South African Reserve Bank's National Payments System Strategy Vision 2025.

Mastercard is partnering with ACI Worldwide to empower acquirers in South Africa to adopt real-time transaction processing standards. This innovation is part of Mastercard's global strategy to bring immediate, secure payments to more consumers and businesses worldwide, supporting their mission of connecting 1 billion people into the digital economy by 2025.

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth hosted the third annual Impact Data Summit in Manhattan, focusing on using technology and data for social good. The event brought together leaders from various sectors to discuss topics like narrowing the data inequality gap, cultivating future data talent, and responsible regulation.

Key takeaways from the summit include:

• Involving people facing challenges in developing AI solutions
• Focusing on problem-solving rather than just applying new technology
• Implementing responsible regulation to build trust in AI
• Emphasizing global cooperation for inclusive AI development

The summit highlighted real-world examples of AI applications, such as the DISHA initiative for disaster response and AI-powered healthcare improvements in Rwanda. Speakers emphasized the importance of inclusive AI development and addressing global challenges through public-private partnerships.

CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) has appointed Jess Turner to its board of directors, effective immediately. Turner, currently serving as Executive Vice President and Global Head of Open Banking and API at Mastercard (NYSE: MA), brings significant fintech, financial services, and management experience to the board. Her appointment increases the CNO board size to nine directors.

Turner's expertise in tech-enabled customer experiences, digital product development, and technology security is expected to contribute to CNO's strategic growth priorities. At Mastercard, she leads the development of new products and technologies for open banking, driving innovation with key partners across the ecosystem. Her previous roles at Mastercard included leading strategy for blockchain, digital assets, crypto, and open banking products.

Mastercard and the African Development Bank Group have launched the MADE Alliance (Mobilizing Access to the Digital Economy) initiative to bring 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria into the digital economy. This is part of a larger plan to enable digital access for 100 million people and businesses across Africa in 10 years.

The initiative will provide farmers with a digital identity and access to a network of 6,000 digital agricultural agents through Mastercard's Community Pass infrastructure. This technology aims to connect smallholder farmers, who often lack visibility and access to financial services, with banks, buyers, traders, and insurance companies.

The MADE Alliance focuses on digitalizing agriculture to boost sustainable access to critical services, including affordable digital financial services, internet connectivity, digital skilling, clean energy asset financing, and access to markets. This initiative is expected to bring significant efficiencies to the marketplace and reduce waste and fraud across the ecosystem.