Mastercard has launched a financial inclusion program in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras designed to accelerate the company”™s goal of including 5 million unbanked individuals and providing expanded credit access to 1 million micro and small businesses (MSMBs) over the course of five years in the three countries.
The Purchase-headquartered company will invest $100 million to accelerate digital financial services that support economic opportunities in the three Central American nations. According to the data from Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, an average of 60% of adults living in those nations do not have a bank account, which means that means millions of people do not have access to basic financial tools to transact in the digital economy. And of those who have accounts, only one in four adults across the three nations owns a debit or credit card.
Under the new program, Mastercard will work with partner banks to encourage and enable them to offer financial tools and solutions to unbanked and underbanked individuals and MSMB owners. Solutions include digital and physical debit or prepaid Mastercard card programs and micro business cards for business owners.
“Financial inclusion still represents a challenge for many worldwide, especially in Latin America,” said Carlo Enrico, president of Mastercard for Latin America and the Caribbean. “We can see this now in those who have, and those who don”™t have, access to the technology required to work, connect with family and friends, receive critical remittances, manage an online business or enjoy the convenience of e-commerce. The pandemic has underscored the critical need for greater digital inclusion and the risks for those left behind.”
