Mastercard Targets SME Cloud Adoption In APAC

Mastercard has strengthened its B2B payments presence across Asia-Pacific (APAC) quite a bit this year, and its latest collaboration with Maestrano strengthens that effort even further.

The credit card company said Thursday (March 30) that it is working with cloud integration platform Maestrano to encourage SME development and technological adoption. Their collaboration will help issuing banks across Asia-Pacific leverage cloud technologies for their SMEs, with Mastercard connecting banks to Maestrano services.

According to Mastercard and Maestrano, while SMEs across Asia-Pacific make up 98 percent of all enterprises in the region, they cannot access technologies that are appropriately scaled to their size. The firms cited research from the Asia Cloud Computing Association that found the average APAC SME spends just 2.5 percent of its overall budget on IT.

Issuing banks can leverage Maestrano’s services to link their SME clients with cloud-based services like expenditure tracking, financial management and other tools that enable real-time insights, the companies noted. Small businesses can access the Maestrano dashboard to gain those insights on finances, cash flow and debt reconciliation, while the solutions can integrate into existing applications and software.

“We are delighted to be working with Mastercard to deliver an innovative opportunity for banks in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Maestrano CEO Stephane Ibos in a statement. “Together we will support the growth and development of SME customers, enabling new insights and services, delivered by our unique technology.”

“Financing for business growth and capability development is a key priority in ensuring sustainable growth for SMEs, and it is critical that SMEs are empowered with products and solutions that enable them to thrive in highly competitive, global marketplaces,” added Philip Glickman, regional head, commercial payment solutions, Asia-Pacific, at Mastercard. “Our partnership with Maestrano is part of our commitment to supporting Asia-Pacific’s SMEs by providing digital, end-to-end solutions that give them greater insight and control of their business and financial health.”