Welcome to a new era where money moves in step with how we live, work and do business. Payments are no longer just transactions, they’re becoming expressions of identity, intent and connection. Mastercard is building this future, powered by technology innovation and trust, creating connected ecosystems that are transforming how people pay, get paid, and engage in the digital economy.
The EEMEA region is playing a leading role in adopting innovative ways to interact with payments. Today’s consumers crave flexibility – whether they’re purchasing luxury goods or picking up daily essentials. At the same time, affluent customers are shifting their focus towards experiences and values that transcend simple transactions, echoing Mastercard’s priceless ethos.
Gen Z and younger consumers are driving a demand for personalised, adaptive solutions that reflect who they are and what they stand for. They value experiences over possessions, expecting brands to offer services that resonate with their individual lifestyles. Mastercard’s research shows a growing trend towards intentional living, with many consumers choosing meaning over materialism. In the EEMEA region, Millennials are leading this change, spending up to five times the global average on travel and lifestyle. Sixty-one per cent of cardholders seek benefits aligned with their passions, and 59% prefer to pay for experiences. Seventy-five per cent say they feel their best when investing in interests like food, art and culture.
To meet these expectations, Mastercard is delivering curated, borderless benefits through offerings such as the Mastercard Collection, World Legend Mastercard, One Credential and Travel Pass. The World Legend card offers global access to exclusive experiences in travel, dining and entertainment. One Credential merges debit, credit, prepaid and instalments into a unified digital identity, giving consumers greater control and flexibility.
“What excites me most is how this empowers choice,” says Prakriti Singh. “We cannot talk personalisation without talking about agentic AI that is powering the next frontier of commerce,” says Prakriti.
As consumers begin relying more on AI rather than traditional search engines for shopping and product discovery, agentic commerce offers merchants a way to deliver highly personalised, consistent experiences. These intelligent systems understand preferences, timing and context, offering tailored recommendations and seamless interactions. Agentic AI is expected to manage up to 20% of e-commerce tasks this year. Mastercard is stepping into this space with new, trusted AI-powered commerce experiences.
“For many shoppers, who are used to the search, compare and buy shopping journeys, the recent emergence of agentic AI shopping experiences is a boon. These intelligent agents know what we like, know when we need things and know how to offer them up. This signals the next evolution of digital commerce, with conversational AI delivering curated, contextual shopping experiences.
This April, we launched Mastercard Agent Pay that uses agentic AI to deliver smarter, more secure and more personal payment experiences,” says Prakriti.
“Agentic Tokens are dynamic digital credentials that empower AI agents to transact safely and transparently on the consumer’s behalf. We’re bringing the same tokenisation technology that today safeguards mobile and online payments into agentic commerce, ensuring each transaction is grounded by advanced security.”
Every transaction in this future is powered by intelligent, secure systems designed to anticipate consumer needs. From adaptive financial tools to advanced security measures, payments are becoming smarter, working in the background to eliminate the need for repeated credential input.
“For us at Mastercard, AI is like electricity that powers intelligent payments,” says Prakriti. “We have used this transformative technology for two decades. Between 2014 and 2024, we filed 237 AI-related patents. Last year, around one-third of our products within value-added services and solutions had AI at their core.”
One of these solutions is Mastercard Gateway, a robust, cloud-based platform that connects merchants, acquirers and consumers to enable seamless, secure, and scalable transactions. “As part of Mastercard’s intelligent commerce infrastructure, the Gateway leverages advanced AI, tokenisation, and real-time fraud detection to ensure every transaction is fast and frictionless. It’s a foundational layer in the agentic commerce ecosystem. We are unveiling further new innovations on this space at EDGE… more to come.”
At the same time, Mastercard is making payments more invisible – integrating safeguards like passkeys, tokens and secure credentials to create seamless, low-friction experiences. Tokenisation is one of the most prominent technologies, replacing sensitive account numbers with secure digital tokens, dramatically reducing fraud and boosting trust across the digital economy.
“At Mastercard, we process over a billion tokenised transactions on our network every week, and we have more tokens enabled for digital payments than we have physical cards in circulation,” shares Prakriti. “Driven by this progress, we’re more committed to tokenising commerce than ever. We have set a goal for ourselves to tokenize every transaction on our network by 2030.”
As stablecoins, crypto and customised financial solutions become more embedded in the conversation around the future of money, Mastercard is positioning itself to address real-world challenges, such as cross-border settlements and programmable commerce, by integrating these digital assets into trusted, regulated frameworks. The company is advancing stablecoin settlement in the region to support faster and more efficient merchant payouts, with strong compliance and security frameworks in place.
Through its multi-coin strategy, Mastercard enables millions of consumers to use stablecoin balances across more than 150 million merchant locations globally. Partnerships with leading crypto firms such as MetaMask, Crypto.com, OKX and Kraken are central to this approach. A new collaboration with Circle marks a milestone: for the first time, acquirers in the EEMEA region can settle transactions using stablecoins.
At EDGE 2025, Mastercard will explore the theme ‘Commerce: De-coded’, bringing to life the key pillars shaping the future of payments. The forum will showcase data, insights and practical innovations, diving deep into how embedded, secure and seamless payments are driving the transformation of global commerce. The event aims to highlight the fintech revolution and bold strategies reshaping the payment ecosystem.
“We are excited about the future of payments and the new opportunities it brings for all of us,” concludes Prakriti Singh. “EDGE provides us and our partners with an ideal platform to explore new ways of building a prosperous digital economy where everyone can thrive.”
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