Looking Forward: With VocaLink, A Choice-Filled Future

I’m not a fortune teller, but I now see the #futureofpayments clearly. How people pay and are paid will increasingly be characterized by a seamless, integrated experience predicated on choice. That is the demand, no matter who you are, where you are and what device you use.   

Two weeks ago, we made an announcement that will help us deliver on that need: The intent to acquire world-class payments company #VocaLink. 

VocaLink, based in London, shares our ideals for providing smart, valuable services, innovative products and payment options that meet the changing needs of people, businesses and governments. It’s also a strong complement to Mastercard’s foundation in the card space.

Automated clearing house (ACH) payment make up 50 percent of all payments made by consumers, businesses and governments in the world’s top 50 countries.

VocaLink’s ACH technologies enable payments to be sent from bank account to bank account, such as bill pay, person-to-person payments and payroll direct deposit. VocaLink also powers the UK’s ATM network.

But it’s not just what VocaLink does that’s so important. It’s how they do it.

This is a team with drive, passion and proven results. That is, if you consider processing 11 billion transactions a year solid results. I certainly do.

And, they’re just getting started. VocaLink’s #FastACH technology and innovations like mobile payments app #ZAPP are poised to make a big difference in how governments, businesses and people pay each other safely and conveniently. With our digital expertise and the Mastercard footprint, operating in more than 210 countries and territories and 53 languages, we can help them grow.

VocaLink is also committed to bringing additional value to their customers through services. Enabling the payment is just the beginning, and with VocaLink’s rich assets alongside ours, we’ll be able to drive even greater value in information and processing services, safety and loyalty solutions.

People want choices, and we want to be the company that delivers them.

With this acquisition, we’ll be able to do that. Choice doesn’t have to mean fragmentation. It can be defined by integration.

We will bring “push” and “pull” payments under the same roof for the very first time, enabling our customers to have one holistic set of offerings matched by one holistic view into how the world is moving its money.

As my new friend and colleague VocaLink CEO David Yates said, together we can “drive more enhanced payment choices globally.”