Mastercard: Zero Cash Transactions is the Goal

Gilberto CALDART, President of International Markets for Mastercard payment system, announced the global policy goals of his company: reducing cash transactions to zero and achieving a fully guaranteed safety of using bank cards via artificial intelligence protection.

All of the above was stated in an exclusive interview with the Italian edition of Corriere della Sera. According to Mr. CALDART, he needs only one plastic card for life, and it is tied to the Mastercard payment system:

«This is enough for me to live, eat in restaurants, shop, buy airline tickets, book hotel rooms, and even go through Rome metro turnstiles».

Mastercard's latest success is a convention agreement with the Municipal Transport Enterprise of Rome. Now you can pay for trips in the underground of the Italian capital using contactless plastic cards. There was a perfect agreement reached in Rome: given the small number of turnstiles in the metro, contactless cards made it possible to reduce queues on the entrance significantly. Over the years, the growth in the number of users of contactless cards amounted to 300% throughout Italy, reaching 8 million people.

According to Gilberto CALDART, virtual money, on the one hand, makes life easier for people, and on the other hand, limits the risk of fraud. Mastercard places particular emphasis on a security guarantee:

«We carry out 43 billion payment transactions per second, and for us, security is everything. Thanks to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analysis, we are able to understand who is asking for permission to carry out a particular operation — the real owner or a scammer».

Mastercard is currently in cooperation with NuData startup, which is working in the field of behavioral biometrics, specifically recognition of a person's identity using the means of payment. An analysis of smartphone use (or other related devices) is being made. It is based on sensory data, such as accelerometer readings. This data allows you to interpret the angle of the device’s application, the voice timbre, typing, and writing style.

In addition, sensory data indicate the client’s gait (whether it is normal or with abnormalities), the number of steps per minute, and which foot he steps first.

Mastercard works with three fintech companies:

• British company Revolut (prepaid cards that allow to conduct trading),
• Monzo (a digital bank that allows to open accounts via smartphone),
• Germany’s N26, one of the most publicly quoted companies in the world market (estimated at $3.5 Bln).

Currently, Mastercard is testing a blockchain system that can significantly reduce the threat of cyber attacks.