Host: Every digital wallet, every tap to pay moment in this region runs through a partnership somewhere. We're live here from Money 2020, and I have with me here in our show today is Mohammed Enna. He's senior vice president of digital Partnerships for Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Mastercard. He's also responsible for relationships across 82 markets. So Mohammed, welcome to Austriamina.
Mohammed Enna: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
Host: Of course, Mohammed, you have been at this event, I think now for the 2nd time, on a role in Riyadh. What feels different for you this year?
Mohammed Enna: I think the maturity. So when I say the maturity, it's, you know, a year ago, uh, when we were here, everybody was also overwhelmed, you know, because it was probably one of the best events I've been to a year, a year ago, and that's why I'm back a year later. And I think a lot of people felt the same way. But when I say maturity last year, a lot of things were in discussion. Oh, we need to do this. We need to get there. Payments need to be at a certain, you know, at a certain point. This year, it's already there.
Host: OK. So we've already seen so much happen, you know, in the last year.
Mohammed Enna: Exactly. And it just goes to show the pace at which the kingdom is moving. In part, you know, as part of Vision 2030. And that is so encouraging because a business like Mastercard, we're all about, you know, empowering, uh, you know, people, empowering economies. That's what we do. And we're so excited to be here in the kingdom on ground. Meeting with, you know, players, whether it's banks, whether it's telcos, whether it's fintech, whether it's digital players, it's what we do, it's who we partner with, and it's, it's such a good vibe, and I'm really, really encouraged to see the direction in which payments is going in the kingdom.
Host: And Mohammed, you mentioned you're very excited now to speak to all of these amazing people now in telcos and fintech as well and marketplaces. Your role covers all of this and also ride hailing crypto exchanges, BMPL, and more of that. Which of those partner categories is growing fastest now when you look at the region?
Mohammed Enna: You know, I don't think there's one partner, or should I say one segment overtaking the others. Um, what I do see is that embedded finance is a key, is a key element specifically amongst these digital platforms, and it's about who can give the consumer less friction. So think about it today, right? Um, when you, uh, try to, you know, make a payment or when you try to purchase goods or services, you obviously go with a partner or with a platform that you trust, that is transparent. And most importantly, from a, from a time delivery perspective, how quickly or how, how, you know, how efficiently you can perform that service. And it's, it's those players who we see as, uh, as, as being the dominant players across all the segments that we see.
Host: Yeah, uh, and Mastercard also built out its gateway, uh, infrastructure on the ground in Saudi Arabia, uh, to keep transaction compliant with SAMA. Why was that local investment so important for you?
Mohammed Enna: We see value in the Saudi Arabian market. You know, as Mastercard, we've been around for over 60 years and we're a network, a network that has offered trust, a network that has offered the transparency to consumers. And so that is a, a, a currency that we pride ourselves by trust. So when the kingdom came up with the mandate of being, you know, putting our gateway on soil, we saw this as an invitation. And we came and we put our infrastructure on soil. And it's because the numbers don't lie. 80% of Saudi Arabians in the past year have done a digital commerce transaction. So that shows the opportunity here that makes sense for our business. And by putting us, by, you know, by putting our MPGS, our Mastercard payment gateway on soil, it is to help the kingdom. It is to make sure that the kingdom can provide proper use cases, proper capabilities for the kingdom's consumers. So that they can continue providing, you know, continue performing digital commerce transactions.
Host: Yeah, 80% is a big number, of course, um, and you have partnered as well with Google to bring Google Pay to Saudi Arabia, uh, as well with players like Techmo on financial inclusion. How do you decide which partnerships do you go through with, uh, and which partnership actually move the needles, um, versus which are just headlines and talks?
Mohammed Enna: Yeah. Look, as MasterCard as a network, we are open to partnering with everybody and it's about reach, right? So when you look at it today, banks provide trust. Banks, banks provide, you know, regulate, you know, strict regulated entities because that's what they are. So they provide their trust as well as their security to consumers. Fintech, on the other hand, they provide innovation and they provide amazing consumer experiences. Then you have telcos, and telcos provide a huge distribution channel and a huge consumer reach. And you have many others, you know, that provide various capabilities. So as Mastercard, we really shifted away about 7 or 8 years ago from a monoline business only focusing on, on banks and we moved into a business which is multi-segmented. And these are all the segments that you speak about FinTech, telco, enablers, digital giants. And we believe each and every single one of these segments provide unique capabilities. And as Mastercard, we have multiple products, multiple services that we can enable these, you know, these players with, so that they can provide their consumer experience to their consumers.
Host: Uh, lastly, you spoke on a panel yesterday on cross-border payments and how fragmented the world that we currently live in and it still is at the moment. Um, what would it actually take to build A better, more connected global rails from where we stand now.
Mohammed Enna: Alignment. So, uh, uh, you know, that was the question that was asked to me and thank you so much for being at my panel yesterday. Um, regulatory alignment, I think, if done properly and if there's proper standards from a regulatory perspective, we can have a consumer who, when he moves into a new country or she moves into a new country, they move with their financial reputation. So as a result, I've done my KYC in country A. The standards obviously allow me to be KYC is already in the market that I'm in. It understands my credit history. It knows that I'm a good, Moe is a good person, um, and has not defaulted, etc. etc. And that consumer then has access and, you know, with that access, they're able to open up bank accounts, get a credit card, able to borrow money very easily, very instantly. Now, that takes time and it's happening in Europe as we speak. And hopefully, we'll get to a world where that happens across the GCC and then broader, you know, GCC Europe and the broader world. But you know, with Mastercard, we do that today already, right? Think about it. When you, when you transact and when you go from a country to a country and you have your card or you have your, uh, you know, card embedded into your mobile phone, we spoke about Google Pay. You're able to tap and pay wherever MasterCard is accepted globally today. So we do make sure that the, that the consumer is borderless, OK? Um, so we do that today. What we've also done and we've just recently, uh, uh, announced this last week, is we've launched the MasterCard wallet-based solution. Now, what that means is if you look at our region today, Probably about 70% of consumers have wallets. Not many of them have bank cards. And so what this means is that as a consumer with my wallet, whatever wallet it may be, whether it's an Alipay wallet, whether it's an M-Pesa wallet in Africa, with this wallet, I'm able to go into any market where MasterCard is accepted. And I simply tap and pay using my wallet. So to the consumer, it's completely seamless. It's like taking an Uber. It's like, uh, it's like Spotify, you know. It's a platform that allows you, uh, um, to do, we, we're building this platform that allows consumers to have. Seamless payments. Because let's face it, right? So I'm very passionate about this, as you can tell. But, but when you wake up in the morning, you don't wake up and say, oh, today I want to make a payment. No, you don't do that. When you wake up in the morning, you're saying, I need to do this, this, this, this, this. Payment should just be incidental. So that's what we want to do and make sure that the, the, the partners that we partner with. You know, can provide those consumer experiences which are seamless and aligned with your, with your goals as well, empowering people, empowering people.
Host: Thank you so much for everything that you shared with us today, and we'll have you again, of course, to share the other scoop too. Thank you so much, Muhammed.
Mohammed Enna: Thank you so much for having me. It's been a real pleasure. Thank you.
