MASTERCARD
Mastercard is transforming the way millions of consumers are managing their money thanks to its innovating ethos and formidable talent base , developing technology which can bring vital financial services to unbanked people around the world
Though it has been one of the world ’ s best-established financial operators for decades , it is arguably the past 10 years which has seen Mastercard ’ s most prolific innovation and transformation drive , spearheaded by a burgeoning talent pool and demand for digital .
Innovation has been part of the company ’ s culture since it was founded . The company celebrated its 50th anniversary in November 2016 . Robert Reeg , now President of Global Technology and Operations for Mastercard , has been a part of the company ’ s journey for 21 years and helped bring innovation to the forefront of the minds of the entire 10,000-strong workforce .
“ Seven or eight years ago we asked all our employees to look at and rank us on a number of different attributes . At the time , innovation came in toward the bottom of that list ,” he says . “ This has been a huge focus point since , getting across that message that innovation is part of everybody ’ s job , not just the tech guys or one part of the group . We all have to think how we can do things better .
“ I had no idea we would grow as fast as we have . The whole secular shift from hard currency to digital
48 October 2016