Mastercard CFO outlines growth strategy driven by stablecoins and value-added services

Mastercard is positioning itself not just as a payment card network but as a comprehensive B2B technology provider, with a multi-layered growth strategy spanning stablecoins to agentic commerce.

New CFO and strategic vision

Ling Hai, who assumed the CFO role on August 3, 2026, outlined a growth-focused capital allocation strategy during the Goldman Sachs 2026 Communacopia + Technology conference on September 10. He emphasized Mastercard’s posture as a growth stock and a B2B technology provider, not merely a traditional payment network.

“If we play this out another 10 years, 20 years, I still think that you’re going to have a mix of different commerce,” Hai said. “You have physical, in-person commerce, you’re going to have online commerce, you have agentic commerce. I think the secret ingredient of the network credential is we’ll be able to serve Mastercard credential in all these different verticals, whether it’s in-person, whether it’s online, whether it’s agentic.”

Three key growth pillars

Agentic commerce and network credentials

As AI platforms transform online discovery and purchasing, Hai highlighted the necessity of network credentials across both human and autonomous agent transactions. Mastercard is preparing infrastructure to serve credentials in every vertical, from traditional point-of-sale to agentic commerce.

Sovereign switch modernization

Mastercard is addressing national payment sovereignty demands by acting as the underlying technology provider for domestic payment networks. In the UAE, a joint venture with the central bank’s AEP entity enables Mastercard to power the domestic Jaywan switch, capturing nearly 100% of local debit processing while layering on cybersecurity services. This is a blueprint Mastercard plans to replicate in other global markets.

Stablecoin and digital asset infrastructure

Following its August 2026 acquisition of BVNK, Mastercard is embedding stablecoin orchestration and white-label wallet capabilities into its payments stack. Hai emphasized high-value use cases in B2B settlement, cross-border remittances, programmable smart contracts, and tokenized bank deposits.

Value-added services account for 40% of revenue

Value-added services now account for about 40% of Mastercard’s net revenue, driven by data insights, advisory, and fraud prevention. Leveraging its acquisition of Recorded Future, Mastercard introduced a network-integrated Threat Intelligence service to protect financial institutions against AI-driven cyber threats and dark web compromised credentials.

Implications for Vietnam and Japan markets

Mastercard’s strategy carries significant implications for Vietnam and Japan markets, where stablecoins and CBDCs are being actively researched. Mastercard’s sovereign switch model could serve as a blueprint for central banks seeking to modernize domestic payment infrastructure while maintaining sovereignty.

For fintech companies in Vietnam, the opportunity lies in building applications on top of the stablecoin orchestration infrastructure Mastercard is providing, particularly in cross-border remittances and B2B settlement — two use cases with high demand in the Southeast Asian region.

---

Source: Mastercard CFO Outlines Growth Strategy Driven by Stablecoins and Value-Added Services — PYMNTS, September 14, 2026