Public-Private Partnerships key to advancing Financial Inclusion, experts share at MasterCard Prepaid and Government Conference

A greater emphasis on Public-Private Partnership (PPP)-led financial addition efforts is needed to drive financial and social advancement across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), experts concluded at MasterCard's 2nd Prepaid and Government Conference that took place in Dubai today.

The conference brought together around 150 high-profile delegates and industry leaders from the federal government and monetary sectors who shared key understandings to further the reason for monetary addition in the area. Sessions explored best practices and the ingenious payment options that can be utilized to deal with social concerns and drive economies.

Speaking at the conference were a variety of senior MasterCard officials, including Michael Fiore, EVP-- Global Prepaid Head; Alan King, Managing Director-- Prepaid Management Services and Tara Nathan, EVP, Public-Private Partnerships. External speakers Dr. Lance S Mambondiani, CEO, Steward Bank and Anant Patel, EMEA Managing Director, First Performance shared study and successes with delegates.

Commenting on the conference, Raghu Malhotra, President, Middle East & Africa, MasterCard, said: "When public-private partnerships are directed and well arranged, we can stimulate favorable weather change that affects people and governments alike. If private players can join hands with federal governments and the civil society at huge, all of us stand a much better opportunity of being successful together.".

With 2 billion adults around the world still economically excluded, the teleconference for higher monetary empowerment through payment developments to enable individuals to be integrated into the monetary ecosystem through innovations like prepaid cards, ID cards, biometric security payment cards and alternative delivery channels like m-commerce and e-commerce.

"Prepaid cards have shown to be a perfect entry point for financial inclusion. With the ability to control spending and all the advantages of cashless payments, it is the foundation of a number of our Financial Inclusion initiatives," Malhotra added.