MasterCard, Smart enter mobile payments deal

Global credit card firm MasterCard and Smart Communications Inc. have entered into a joint venture that would allow the mobile network's subscribers to make money transactions via their cellphones. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Thursday, Smart Communications Inc. said the joint venture with MasterCard was with its unit, Smart Hub Inc. The MasterCard Mobile Payments Gateway — an open mobile payment processing platform — would allow the network’s subscribers to send money, pay bills, purchase items, and buy prepaid credits through their mobile phones. Subscribers with bank accounts could also make deposits and transfer funds between accounts. “[Through this] we will empower the one billion mobile phone users without bank accounts around the world by providing a link to the MasterCard Worldwide Network — the global electronic infrastructure facilitating global commerce," Joshua Peirez, MasterCard head of Innovative Platforms, said in a statement. MasterCard said the venture was part of a strategy to tap developing countries like the Philippines for its cashless payment schemes. A similar project was earlier introduced in Brazil through Vivo, the South American mobile network provider. —Nikka Corsino/VS, GMANews.TV