At our investor day just over a year ago, we shared a strategy that is based on three central pillars:

01. Expand in payments
02. Extend our services
03. Embrace new networks

01
Expand in payments

For much of our history, Mastercard has been known for card payments. It is the core of what we deliver in expanded relationships with partners and customers including Citizens Bank, Santander and NatWest. This consumer card business continues to be healthy. There’s plenty of runway ahead – in both the consumer and commercial segments – as seen in the continued shift to electronic payments.

People are looking for more opportunities to tap into the convenience and safety they associate with Mastercard. While it may seem like you can use a card virtually everywhere, our work on acceptance is never finished. In the past six years, the number of merchants accepting Mastercard payments has more than doubled – to nearly 100 million locations. We are growing through Cloud Commerce, a cloud-native service that makes it easy for the smallest business to start accepting payments without an investment in new hardware.

However, we also recognize there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. There are areas where a card payment may not be the best fit. That’s why we are working to support the range of ways people and businesses want to pay and get paid.

It comes down to being simple, frictionless and secure in every instance. We’re doing that in consumer card payments and by focusing on four additional flows – disbursements and remittances, commercial point of sale, business-to-business accounts payable and consumer bill payments. These areas are increasingly becoming a larger part of our business with more growth potential – an estimated $80 trillion in GDV.

In commercial, we’re building on a strong foundation and expanding into small business, travel and entertainment, and fleet cards – similar to programs people use in their personal lives but with tailored benefits for their business.

Mastercard Send and our cross-border services expand our ability to deliver domestic and international payments securely to 90% of the world’s population. There’s also our industry-leading work with virtual cards, providing businesses with an effective solution to do more with their capital and their data.

And we continue to responsibly explore and evolve our activities with blockchain technology, working with players and partners across the industry. This complements our work with governments as they explore digital currencies and learn what may be required, from interoperability with traditional systems and commerce to connecting across borders.

We have come a long way from the creation of the Mastercard network. We have made it easier for our customers to connect with Mastercard for whatever their needs might be. Today, our hybrid approach blends legacy and cloud technologies to enable more innovation, deliver greater reliability and do so in a regulatory-compliant and sustainable manner.

The emerging technologies we’re creating and constantly innovating enable new partners and power new opportunities through the agility and scale enabled by the cloud, the speed and intelligence in quantum computing, and the potential of blockchain.

It's our responsibility to ensure that these technologies can come together and solve real problems. This future of payments requires an equal focus on privacy and security, including a responsible approach to activate AI. Without that foundational trust, people will not embrace new technologies, potentially weakening the digital economy’s growth.

What we do is important.  As an organization, we place great emphasis on how we work together, deliver impact and, with that, ensure our resiliency.

Culture can be a competitive advantage, and it is strongest when teams feel a powerful connection to each other and have shared goals and a clear path to grow and win. Today, the Mastercard Way focuses on three areas – creating value, growing together and moving fast, all with a foundation of doing the right thing.

Our 29,900 colleagues across the globe have diverse backgrounds and experiences, but they all are mission-driven, talented and passionate people. Whether they are engineers or programmers, product managers, consultants or finance specialists, they all are pulling toward a shared goal and common purpose.

We have the fundamental belief that businesses cannot thrive in an unhealthy and unequal world. That’s why our significant commitment to sustainable economies and social impact is necessary. Addressing our environmental impacts and enabling financial inclusion are smart for our business and the right thing to do for society. They give people full access to their money. They bring a farmer’s crops to a wider digital marketplace. They help with greater connectivity and allow more people to participate in today’s economy, no matter where they are.

That strengthens the resilience of our communities, grows prosperity and delivers long-term value creation with new customers. We are only one part of a much larger story, but I am proud of the role that we play with our partners across the public and private sectors.

Yes, there are many external challenges, but there are also clear opportunities. I believe in our long-term growth potential because of our differentiated strategy, people, production and solutions.

Earlier, I talked about our momentum coming into this year. We are using that to our advantage – to reinforce our value to our customers, to deliver on our commitments and to imagine new ways to apply our skills, creativity and experience.