Mastercard Pay Local extends digital payment access to over 35 million merchants in Asia Pacific and other regions, enhancing payment options for both local consumers and international travellers.

Mastercard introduced a global Mastercard Pay Local service that enables consumers worldwide to use their Mastercard-linked credit or debit cards with local digital wallets for seamless, card-based payments.

The new solution is particularly significant for markets where digital wallets are commonly used as a payment method for everyday purchases, such as Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. For instance, in the countries of Asia, digital wallets accounted for 50% of all e-commerce purchases last year. In China, digital wallets were used for a record 82% of e-commerce purchases and 66% of brick-and-mortar store transactions.

Tourists in these countries will not need to set up or top up a prepaid account at a local digital wallet provider. Instead, they can simply link their Mastercard bank card to the service and pay like a local.

Some local digital wallet providers, e.g. ?DANA in Indonesia, Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia, Bakong in Cambodia, and LankaPay in Sri Lanka, have already signed up for Mastercard Pay Local to allow consumers to make payments at more than 35 million eligible merchants. Additionally, Mastercard Pay Local service expands on its existing collaborations with major wallet providers, such as Alipay and Weixin Pay in mainland China, as well as Octopus in Hong Kong.

It is expected that the fresh solution will bring tangible benefits to all parties involved. Thus, micro-, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs) gain wider reach with minimal investment, wallet operators expand their customer base by attracting regular card users, card issuers increase acceptance points, all the while local residents and tourists enjoy convenient payment options, even at MSMEs that don’t typically accept cards.