Mastercard Partners With Pollinate To Help Banks Serving SMBs

To provide banks serving small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) throughout the globe with the newest technology and insights, Mastercard and Pollinate have agreed to a strategic partnership. The collaboration comes after Mastercard’s investment in the company last year, according to a Friday (Aug. 14) announcement.

“Our work with Pollinate and the wider issuer and acquirer solutions ecosystem supports our collective goal to offer digital payment solutions for small- and medium-size businesses to deliver a seamless experience for their customers in a time of need,” Zahir Khoja, executive vice president of Merchants Solutions and Partnerships at Mastercard, said in the announcement.

Pollinate’s technology serves as a data and digital experience layer based on the cloud that can exist on top of the current infrastructure of a bank. It lets a bank expand into the acquiring business or grow its current operations without making modifications to its infrastructure.

Banks can provide digital onboarding to merchants along with a portal that functions as the core of their businesses. Settlement information, sales data and proprietary technology like accounting connections and digital loyalty offerings are included in the portal.

The relationship strengthens the capabilities of the portal through the addition of Mastercard products and offerings such as a more formidable online shopping functionality and more profound insights.

“With [SMBs] being the cornerstone of the global economy and providing half the world’s jobs, supporting their growth and recovery has never been more important,” Alastair Lukies CBE, founder and CEO of Pollinate, said in the announcement. “Both Pollinate and Mastercard are passionate about working with banks to bring [SMBs] best-in-class services.”

In separate news, Mastercard has committed $250 million over the next five years to help SMBs. The news came during the virtual America CARES Small Business Relief event hosted at the White House on April 7.

As it stands, collaborations between technology-nimble startups and traditional financial institutions are offering new products and services to the market to tackle complicated challenges, and banks, firms and clients are benefiting from their efforts.