MasterCard wants to manage business subscriptions (too)

American payment giant MasterCard is constantly expanding its initiatives to position itself in the widest possible payment market. The latest example is the launch of its new subscription management tool for business customers. Yet another value-added service demonstrating the group's hyperactivity.

FACTS

• Companies using Mastercard Business cards in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region will soon benefit from a new value-added service: a business subscription management tool.
• The service is available to MasterCard customers thanks to a partnership signed with its technology partner for this project: Nuclei.
• It is available for subscriptions paid for exclusively with MasterCard business cards.
• The service is due to be rolled out progressively across the region.

CHALLENGES

• Facilitate business management: MasterCard and Nuclei started from the observation that SMEs often have to juggle multiple subscriptions simultaneously to access several corporate services, with different renewal dates. The new offer from both partners must offer a practical solution to follow several subscriptions with a minimum of effort.
• Adding value to payment: The new feature for MasterCard customers is primarily intended to help small businesses improve their finances by streamlining their subscriptions paid through MasterCard, thereby reducing costs. The idea is obviously also to motivate the use of the brand cards.
• Open a dedicated offer to individuals: The subscription management market was open to individuals; MasterCard already offered a service for this target in the United States. Today, MasterCard is building on existing offerings to offer a similar service to another target group that has been underserved so far: professionals.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• MasterCard has been very active lately. The US payment giant is indeed multiplying initiatives to avoid missing any potentially major turning point in terms of the evolution of payment services.
• For example, it has just partnered with Mercuryo to participate in the democratization of the use of crypto assets, has also strengthened its partnerships in France to deploy Click to Pay but has also positioned itself in India to pose as a reference for payment security.
• Its hyperactivity allows MasterCard to extend its positioning to the contours of the payment market, in the cybersecurity market too, for example, through the recent acquisition of Recorded Future.