Mastercard launches Wallet Pay to plug digital wallets into its acceptance network over NFC, QR and online

Mastercard announced Wallet Pay, a portfolio that lets digital wallet providers reach Mastercard's acceptance estate over contactless NFC, QR codes and online checkout without rebuilding their own infrastructure. Alipay+ is the anchor partner, connecting wallets including AlipayHK, GCash, KakaoPay, TNG eWallet, TrueMoney and Clip, alongside Axian, CRED, DaviPlata, Mercado Pago, MTN and TenPay Global.

Mastercard cites 4.3 billion wallet users today rising to a projected 6 billion by 2030, 3.7 billion of its own credentials, coverage in more than 200 countries and transfers in 150 currencies.

The scheme is repositioning itself from card issuer network to wallet switch, which matters in Europe precisely because the wallets that threaten it here are domestic and bank-owned. Wallet Pay is a template for how a card scheme monetises rails it does not issue on, and European merchants that already accept Mastercard would gain Asian and Latin American wallet acceptance without new integrations, which is material for travel retail, airports and luxury. It also sharpens the contrast with EPI, which is trying to own the wallet rather than the switch underneath it.

Whether any European wallet or domestic scheme signs onto Wallet Pay rather than building its own interoperability, and how acquirers price wallet acceptance routed this way against card acceptance.

• investor.mastercard.com