Mastercard has joined the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) platform as a corporate founding member.
Mastercard will now be able to further support fintech innovation within the Asia region; the financial giant will bring its Start Path program members onto AFIN’s API Exchange (APIX) ecosystem
Rama Sridhar, Executive Vice President, Digital & Emerging Partnerships and New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said the company was “honoured” to have been inducted into the AFIN network.
He said: “In a world of rapid digital transformation, collaborations between emerging and established Fintech players, such as those supported by AFIN’s platform, are crucial to the development of innovative digital financial products and services.
“Having worked with tech start-ups around the globe, Mastercard looks forward to extending its support to ASEAN’s community of builders and change agents by providing access to its technology solutions, expertise and strategic partnerships to enable start-ups to rapidly and effectively scale up.”
AFIN was established in 2018 by the IFC, the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS); AMTD Foundation is AFIN’s first corporate founding member.
Mastercard said it will approach this new scheme in its traditional, relationship-led strategy, with the aim of utilising its connections for these fintechs.
A key element of this is bringing Mastercard’s existing Start Path (StartPath.com) program members onto AFIN’s flagship product, the API Exchange (APIX) ecosystem.
“AFIN looks forward to working closely with Mastercard on our shared goal of creating a more collaborative financial ecosystem,” noted Manish Diwaan, Managing Director, AFIN.
“This partnership will help AFIN to accelerate its outreach to support the global Fintech community and financial industry to engender greater financial inclusion.
“The AFIN Board and I also look forward to Rama’s valuable experience and contributions to the APIX community.”
APIX is a global cloud-based platform that enables both financial institutions and fintech firms to discover each other on a curated marketplace.
Design experiments that are worked on collaboratively through the network are kept in the sandbox with the aim to process these solutions deployed “rapidly at a lower cost.”
“As AFIN’s first corporate founding member, AMTD Foundation warmly welcomes the global leadership and expertise that Mastercard brings.
“We are excited to jointly develop solutions to close the unbanked gap in Asia,” added Calvin Choi, Chairman of AMTD Foundation and AMTD Group.
