Penny Pinch, The Saint Lucia and Eastern Caribbean’s leading digital wallet provider, Monday announced an exclusive alliance with Mastercard as part of its strategy to adapt and grow its presence in the islands.
This ground-breaking alliance has the potential to yield significant benefits for local Caribbean residents and small businesses. Both companies will collaborate to promote financial inclusion efforts across the islands by offering a suite of payment and acceptance solutions.
Through this Penny Pinch partnership with Mastercard, the organisations will work together to expand access to electronic payments and build simple and secure payment options throughout the Eastern Caribbean. Key focus areas include:
● Collaborate with local financial institutions to offer a Mastercard prepaid card to thousands of expanding mobile wallet customers, ultimately enabling them to spend their wallet balance everywhere Mastercard is accepted (locally and internationally in-store and online) through a digital and physical card connected to their mobile wallet account. Penny Pinch customers will also be able to withdraw their funds at ATMs.
● Use Mastercard’s Digital Enablement Service (MDES), which will allow cardholders to perform NFC (Tap to Pay, or contactless) payments without the need for a physical card. Additionally, cardholders will be able to view their card information, immediately freeze/unfreeze their cards, and have more control by deciding the types of transactions performed with their cards.
● Enhance the cardholder digital experience by leveraging Mastercard’s solutions to provide detailed card transaction information such as Category, Location, Type, and more.
● Utilize Mastercard’s experience and expertise to help Penny Pinch develop and extend its product offering via various creative products for consumers and small businesses.
“We are excited to work alongside Mastercard to leverage today’s technology to launch a world class card product that will revolutionize how the unbanked and underbanked manage and spend their money. By building from the ground up, we can provide an unrivaled customer experience backed by the latest security and fraud protection features” says Martin Hanna, Chief Executive Officer, Penny Pinch.
“As the demand for digital payments continues to accelerate, Mastercard is committed to supporting fintech innovators that are dedicated to a more financially inclusive future for all. By combining our joint expertise, we look forward to innovating and adding new solutions that address the needs within an evolving payments landscape,” said Ana Paola Gallo, Market Development Director for the Caribbean.
The collaborative solutions will launch in St. Lucia initially with roll out throughout the OECS and the wider Caribbean in the near future.