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Raja Rajamannar on technology adoption

From Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service · · BeetTV

“The kind of advancements which are happening in technology in the last few years particularly has been stunning but financial services have not evolved taking full advantage of this technology opportunities. How can you reimagine the entire financial services leveraging these new technologies?”

Raja Rajamannar
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Mastercard Inc
Policy Impact technology adoptionfinancial services innovationdigital transformation

On , Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Mastercard Inc, spoke about technology adoption during Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service on BeetTV.

Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service
Watch on YouTube at 1:20
Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service
BeetTV
Watch on YouTube at 1:20
ORLANDO -- The financial services sector faces several big opportunities to grow and reach new consumers, says Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer at Mastercard, in this interview with Beet.TV. "There is a huge chunk of consumers who don't have access to the financial system. Getting them is a huge opportunity," he explains. "We have started getting involved and working with government to get these folks into the financial system. It's both humanitarian and economic." Another opportunity lies in technology. That's because the kind of advancements in media technology in the last few years haven't fully spread to financial services. "Look at virtual reality and new ways of reaching consumers through technology," he says. "Financial services has not yet fully taken advantage of that." Finally, Rajamannar believes another opportunity for financial services firms lies in understanding and acting on how consumers do and don't segment their lives. "Consumers don't segregate their life into buckets. They don't say 'this is my financial services bucket, this is my restaurant bucket and this is the experience bucket where I want to have fun.' It is one seamless life. If companies see this, that's a huge opportunity." For more insight into what's next in marketing and reaching consumers in the future, check out this video interview. We interviewed Rajamannar at the ANA Masters of Marketing annual meeting in Orlando. This video is part of a series produced at the conference. Beet’s coverage is sponsored by Cadent. For more videos from the series,please visit this page.
Raja Rajamannar

About Raja Rajamannar

Chief Marketing & Communications Officer · Mastercard Inc

Raja Rajamannar, formerly Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, transitioned to the role of Senior Fellow at the company as of January 1, 2026. In this capacity, he focuses on advising and mentoring rather than day-to-day operations. Rajamannar also served as the founding president of Mastercard’s healthcare solutions division, which he described as addressing a "broken" healthcare system by applying payment-industry sophistication to medical services. He stated that Mastercard is "a very well diversified company" offering services such as consulting, fraud management, and loyalty programs. Rajamannar has discussed Mastercard’s shift toward "experience-led marketing," saying the company now spends more on experiences than on advertisements. He outlined the company’s approach to open banking, fintech partnerships, and cryptocurrencies, and noted that Mastercard views cash as its primary competitor. Regarding artificial intelligence, Rajamannar identified three common corporate mistakes: insufficient experimentation and training, incomplete understanding of risk, and underestimation of AI’s disruptive impact on jobs. He emphasized the importance of clearly defining a brand’s meaning and emotional resonance, cautioning against shallow or vague brand positioning.

Profile compiled from Raja Rajamannar's verified public interviews and appearances. See all quotes & transcripts →

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