From Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service · · BeetTV
“We don't look at ourselves as a company being in the financial services though we enable movement of money and data between various financial services companies like banks and the merchants around the world. We look at ours as a technology company.”
On , Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Mastercard Inc, spoke about company identity during Mastercard's CMO: Three Big Opportunities in Financial Service on BeetTV.
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.