Latin America and Caribbean

The partnership will enable a more robust financial ecosystem in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, granting underserved and unbanked segments of the population access to the digital economy.

Guatemala, August 2023: Paymentology, the leading global issuer-processor, today announces an expanded partnership with Mastercard to bolster financial inclusion across Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

According to a recent Mastercard and Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) study, while most Latin Americans gained access to basic financial products between 2020 and 2023, 21% still rely exclusively on cash and are still excluded. Furthermore, in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, only one in four banked adults possess a debit or credit card, further emphasizing the obstacles in accessing the financial system within the region.

Mastercard, a founding member of the Partnership for Central America (PCA), has committed to bringing 5 million people and 1 million micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into the digital economy, including 300,000 businesses run by women, over five years. The partnership reflects Mastercard's commitment to building an inclusive digital economy where everyone, everywhere, can benefit from the technological revolution and reach their fullest potential.

As a member of the Mastercard Engage partner network since 2021, Paymentology has worked with Mastercard to build new and relevant financial inclusion solutions for its customers, and Paymentology has supported Mastercard customers in quickly deploying these product innovations at scale. Now, through an expanded partnership, Paymentology will continue innovating to help accelerate financial inclusion through its advanced issuer processing platform, offering an efficient go-to-market plan for issuers in the region and providing fast and seamless access to card issuance.

"Our partnership with Paymentology will help build a more robust and inclusive financial ecosystem in Northern Central America by providing the technology, expert support, and efficient processes new financial institutions and fintechs require to launch and grow," commented Thiago Dias, Senior Vice President Fintechs, Enablers, and Crypto at Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean. "Our goal is to ensure more Central Americans gain access to innovative, safe, and convenient financial solutions that connect them to the digital economy and improve their lives," added Dias. 

Paymentology and Mastercard will work closely with partner financial institutions, fintech companies and telcos to encourage and enable them to offer accessible financial tools and solutions to unbanked and underbanked individuals and SME owners. These solutions encompass digital and physical debit or prepaid Mastercard card programs and micro business cards tailored to their specific needs.

Furthermore, consumers and business owners will access robust security features and the ability to make and receive digital payments for various purposes, including social benefits, remittances (including person-to-person transfers), point-of-sale purchases, small business financing, and more.

"We are deeply committed to advancing financial inclusion across the globe, and we are thrilled to extend our collaboration with Mastercard on this important initiative, said Alejandro Del Rio, Regional Director for Latam at Paymentology. “We aim to establish a sustainable and economically viable experience for our clients and partners. Together, we are determined to serve the northern Central America region and tackle the substantial gaps in the financial inclusion agenda by implementing efficient go-to-market strategies. By leveraging our expertise and technology, we aim to empower individuals and businesses, driving positive change and economic growth in the region."

To learn more about Paymentology, please visit: https://www.paymentology.com/

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About Paymentology    

Paymentology is the leading next-gen global issuer-processor. It gives banks, fintechs and telcos the technology, team, and experience to easily issue and process any type of physical or virtual card; debit, prepaid, credit, BNPL, revolving and more. Anywhere in the world, rapidly and at scale. Paymentology’s superior multi-cloud Platform offering both shared and dedicated processing instances, vast global presence and richer real-time data, set it apart as the leader in payments. Their payments experts bring deep, local market knowledge on the ground in 60 countries, across 14 time zones, guaranteeing 24/7 support. Paymentology is deeply committed to increasing financial inclusion worldwide, and to making a positive impact in the communities in which it operates. 

About Mastercard (NYSE: MA) www.mastercard.com

Mastercard is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our mission is to connect and drive an inclusive digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere, by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using protected data and networks, partnerships, and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses reach their highest potential. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that opens possibilities that are priceless for everyone.

Press contact

Sabrina Alvarez

Communications Manager for Central America and the Caribbean at Mastercard

Sabrina.alvarez@mastercard.com

Caravela, a green coffee firm focused only on responsible sourcing and marketing high-quality Latin American coffees, has received a USD 1.5 million value chain loan from Hivos-Triodos Fund. The financing would allow the company to pay about 600 smallholder coffee producers in Mexico and Peru when their harvest is delivered. 

Throughout the past 20 years, Caravela has gradually expanded its operations to seven Latin American origins and four sales offices. Caravela aspires to create mutually beneficial relationships between smallholder coffee producers, coffee roasters, and coffee consumers, contributing to the long-term sustainability of the coffee industry from farm to cup.  

Caravela's goal for the next several years is to make the entire coffee value chain, including Caravela's customers, carbon neutral. This aspiration emphasizes Caravela's desire to not only make better coffee but to make better coffee. 

After decades of directing financial services to micro-enterprise owners, many microfinance institutions are finding that some of these enterprises have grown and that they’re now serving an expanding number of small business owners. With increasing global attention being directed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it is fitting to look more deeply at what can be learned from entrepreneurs whose businesses started as microenterprises, grew, and can now be classified as SMEs – with a substantial number of employees. More specifically: Who are these entrepreneurs? What kinds of businesses do they operate? What have been their growth patterns and hurdles? And how have they utilized financial services to further their growth aspirations?

These are the questions that guided my research fellowship for the Center for Financial Inclusion. As part of my study I gathered institutional data and conducted in-depth interviews with clients of three leading microfinance institutions in Latin America: MiBanco, Banco ADOPEM, and Banco Solidario. The clients I focused on had all experienced significant loan size growth over several years.

This report reflects the results of a research project carried out by SNV during 2011 and 2012 with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund (IDB-MIF). The aim of the research was to investigate the extent to which inclusive business initiatives can make a substantial contribution to improving the living conditions of the poor while at the same time providing companies with enough financial or other incentives to scale up such initiatives—specifically, to a size commensurate with the problems of poverty and exclusion that emerging economies face. Inclusive business (IB) is defined as a profitable as well as environmentally and socially responsible business initiative that, while creating value for the company, contributes to improving the quality of life for low-income communities through their participation in the value chain of a business. It harnesses the growth potential already found in businesses and links this potential to social objectives. IB models can involve the poor as suppliers, distributors, or consumers of goods or services, or as shareholders and partners in the business initiative.