Mastercard Pay Local links cards to APAC wallets

It allows consumers to use their Mastercard cards at over 35 million merchants.

Mastercard launched "Mastercard Pay Local," a service enabling consumers to make card payments directly through local digital wallets. 

The service allows residents and international travellers to link their Mastercard credit or debit cards to a participating digital wallet.

Mastercard Pay Local is integrated with popular wallets in the Asia Pacific region, such as DANA in Indonesia, Touch ‘n Go in Malaysia, Bakong in Cambodia, and LankaPay in Sri Lanka. 

This allows consumers to use their Mastercard cards at over 35 million merchants that accept these digital wallets. 

The service is also being introduced in regions like Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, where digital wallets are commonly used.

For residents, it enables seamless payments to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that do not accept traditional card payments. International travellers can make hassle-free payments without currency exchanges or wallet top-ups. 

MSMEs benefit from greater reach with minimal investment, and wallet operators gain access to a broader customer base by supporting card-linked payments. 

Card issuers can extend their services to more merchants, enhancing convenience for their users.

This new service builds on Mastercard’s partnerships with major wallet providers, including Alipay, Weixin Pay in Mainland China, and Octopus in Hong Kong, to make it easier for international visitors to pay like locals. 

Additionally, digital wallets across Southeast Asia, such as GrabPay, Maya, ShopBack, and TrueMoney, already accept Mastercard for funding, making payments convenient at merchant locations.