Uber Expands Instant Driver Payments With Mastercard

Mastercard says it is expanding its payments partnership with Uber.

The new agreement, announced Thursday (July 24), will see Uber employ several Mastercard solutions, including Mastercard Move for facilitating real-time disbursements, and Mastercard One Credential, designed to simplify the payment experience and offer greater payment choice.

Uber will also use Mastercard Gateway, the company’s processing/fraud prevention solution, to manage a range of digital transactions.

“This partnership connects over 3.5 billion cards and more than 150 million merchants that accept Mastercard globally together with Uber’s community of ​over ​8.5 million earners and 170 million users worldwide,” Sherri Haymond, co-president, Global Partnerships at Mastercard, said in the announcement.

“By leveraging Mastercard’s end-to-end payment solutions, this deepened work will provide integrated, trusted and seamless payment experiences for Uber’s workers, small business owners, and consumers while also supporting Uber’s growth.”

The partnership will also see Uber’s Pro Card — already supported by Mastercard in the U.S. and Canada — expand into new markets such as the U.K. This card lets Uber drivers and couriers receive instant payments at no cost following each trip or delivery.

PYMNTS Intelligence research from the report “Instant Payments: A Strategic Tool for Vendor Relationships and Urgent Transactions” has found the importance of instant payments for workers in the gig economy.

That study found that 41% of consumers overall get disbursements most often from instant methods, such as through Zelle or a transfer to a debit card or digital wallet. That figure is nearly four times higher than the 2018 level.

“Why the need for speed? For many individuals, it boils down to the nature of their work. In the gig economy, tens of millions of U.S. workers rely on getting paid quickly after completing a job to plan their personal finances and maintain pocketbook stability,” PYMNTS wrote.

The report showed that more than half of large businesses in the gig economy — 55% to be precise — face a requirement from nearly a third of their payment recipients to send those funds instantly.

“This makes perfect sense when you consider that gig workers typically expect immediate compensation for their services,” PYMNTS added. “But crucially, the companies that employ them understand that expectation. In fact, the data shows that 97% of payments to gig workers were deemed urgent by the senders.”