Darrell MacMullin , SVP Products and Platforms at Mastercard in Canada , talks to us about the pace of change within disbursements and cross-border payments .

WRITTEN BY ALEX CLERE

When we dial in virtually to speak with Darrell MacMullin , Senior Vice President for Products and Platforms at Mastercard in Canada , he ’ s just got off the phone with his telecom provider . MacMullin is constantly evaluating the experiences he receives as a user , and applying those learnings to his role . “ I am definitely UX-obsessed ,” he admits .

Over the last 5-10 years , he believes several macro trends have redefined disbursements and cross-border payments . These include the rise of the gig economy ; the emergence of new verticals in gaming and gambling that are moving into the scope of regulators ; greater demand for choice in various different payment use-cases ; and more exacting expectations from the general public .

“ People ’ s expectations are on demand for almost everything now ,” MacMullin says . “ Whether it ’ s a refund from a health insurance company or a person needing to send money to family back home , they don ’ t want to wait days for that anymore . The expectation is that it has to happen in near real-time .”

In order to meet this evolving demand , Mastercard has placed a huge emphasis on its Mastercard Send platform , which facilitates secure , near-real time payment transfers between billions of cards , banks and digital accounts .

Mastercard has also been investing heavily into new payments infrastructure , applications and services . “ We ’ ve completed acquisitions and integrations of a number of companies and capabilities that give us the ability to reach about 90 % of the world ’ s population with Mastercard Cross- Border Services ,” MacMullin tells us . “ Together , Mastercard Send and Cross-Border Services can support payments to bank accounts , mobile wallets , cash payout locations , and any card type and scheme whether it ’ s debit , credit or prepaid . The platform enables banks and fintechs to be able to move money to support multiple use cases including remittances , small business and commercial payments .”

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