Mergers and acquisitions seem to be hallmarks of the payments world thus far in 2019, six months in, knitting together broad capabilities and broad reach, global in scope.
To that end, Mastercard said earlier this month that it has closed its acquisition, announced in March, of cross-border payments company Transfast.
In an interview with Karen Webster, Stephen Grainger, executive vice president at Mastercard, offered a broad view of the challenges that confront companies tackling payments on a grand stage, and the mindset that drove the deal. Remarking on cross-border payments specifically, he said that such activity has relied, traditionally, on a correspondent banking system that had worked well for larger corporates moving high-value payments within certain corridors. The system works less well, he said, for transactions that lie below a $100,000 threshold.