Originally published at mastercard.com. Mastercard ranked No. 2 on The Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list in 2022.
Today Mastercard announced the launch of a new financial inclusion program in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras that will accelerate the company’s objective of including five million unbanked individuals and digitize and provide credit access to one million micro and small businesses (MSMBs) over the course of five years in the three countries.
The new program builds on Mastercard’s decade-long track record in financial inclusion and seeks to make a significant impact as part of its work alongside the Partnership for Central America initiative. To reach its commitment, the company will invest $100 million to accelerate digital financial services that support economic opportunities in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
According to the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, an average of 60% of adults living in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador do not have a bank account. This means millions of people do not have access to basic financial tools to transact in the digital economy. Of those who are banked, only one in four adults across the three markets owns a debit or credit card. The significant unbanked population and low card use signifies that access to the financial system is a challenge in the region.
“The Partnership is grateful to our core founding partner Mastercard for its leadership and innovation in this space. With this investment of $100 million to bank the unbanked, we are eager to see real progress in supporting those in country and hope to build off this momentum throughout this next phase of growth for the Partnership,” said Jonathan Fantini-Porter, Executive Director of the Partnership for Central America, the coordinating body for U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s Call to Action for Private Investment in Northern Central America.
Learn more at mastercard.com.
