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Mastercard offers a variety of public sector solutions that can be implemented at any scale so governments can better serve their citizens and employees. Below are just a few examples of the types of solutions we offer.

Social Benefits

  • Benefits (education/scholarship, grants, loans, social assistance, insurance, employment insurance, disability, other)
  • Pension
  • Tax Refunds
  • Disaster Relief

Government Payroll

  • Wages
  • Pensions
  • Other

The shift to electronic payments allows governments to ensure that social benefit disbursements are delivered and used as expected, with increased transparency and reduced processing time and costs.

Electronic payments can also maximize the utility of personal IDs and expand financial inclusion. 

Disbursements

The advantages of electronically disbursed social benefits include:

  • Reach – Distributing cards and implementing mobile solutions maximizes reach to citizens and minimizes effort on the part of the recipient
  • Security/Validation – Providing strong authentication and eligibility validation, including biometrics, ensures that the right people benefit from social spending and that funds are used as intended
  • Cost Efficiency – Efficiencies are gained by decreasing the time and effort involved with cash and cheque processing, as well as curtailing leakage, processing errors and eliminating the logistics of transporting cash
  • Convenience – Funds are immediately available, promoting faster local circulation and saving citizens the need to travel or queue to receive funds
  • Inclusion – Enabling the unbanked and underserved to enjoy better management of spending and the opportunity to save for the future
  • Economic Growth – Growth in local and remote economies through improved payment flow, reduced time and travel costs to get funds, reduced theft, more efficient local economic activity and increased local investment

Personal Identification Programs

Offering multiple functions on a single card maximizes efficiency, optimizes usage and reduces management for both government and citizens. Multi-function cards offer:

  • Visibility – Understanding who and where citizens are located is critical to effectively serving them and driving social progress
  • Reach – Increasing financial inclusion among citizens who are able to receive their social payments electronically enables governments to gain a better understanding of the population 
  • Efficiency – Combining Personal ID Programs with electronic payment functionality creates cost savings, which can be leveraged for other social benefit programs
  • Economic Development – Providing a universal, secure means of identification for all citizens generates ancillary cost savings for the private sector and accelerates economic growth

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