Dalton Fowles, Mastercard Country Manager for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, outlined that Mastercard will increase digital security for cardholders given the importance of digital transformation to the tourism sector, especially to the underserved segments of “our various economies”.

In an interview with Our Today, during the recently held 3rd Global Tourism Resilience Conference, which commenced on Monday, February 17, Fowles underscored that cyber tools are also employed to protect cardholders’ personal data. “Broadly speaking, there are quite a few cyber tools that are employed not just by ourselves as a global company but also by our partner financial institutions to protect our cardholders. But it’s very important to understand that Mastercard does not have any Personal Identifiable Information (PII) for cardholders; we are an aggregator.

“We may see a card number we don’t know the name behind, so when we talk about digital security as a payment network, it’s absolutely important that we drive safety and security for our ecosystem because if people are not happy, if people are not comfortable, then they are not going to spend with their card, so that’s something that we do by nature, and we also provide a range of cyber solutions to our partner banks to enhance, in some cases, what they already have,” he continued.

Fowles also underscored the plans being implemented for Mastercard for 2025 and onward given its growth in the region. “How we are going to continue to try and grow our footprint, grow our marketshare right across the region [is that] we believe that we bring valuable insights to the various economies in which we operate and will continue to bring that value to bear to the markets that we operate,” he said.

Fowles further expressed that at Mastercard they want to ensure that they are a good asset to their partners. “We are of the view, and in fact we’ve started this discussion many, many years ago by doing well by doing good, so in addition to the insights and so forth that we bring, we want to make sure that we are a good partner to the countries and the markets that we operate.”