Mastercard

We congratulate Mike Froman, who will serve as president of the Council on Foreign Relations. The appointment is a testament to his distinguished career spanning over three decades across the highest levels of the government and the private sector. Over the last five years as Mastercard’s vice chair and president for Strategic Growth, Mike has played an instrumental role overseeing our corporate strategy, growing strategic partnerships, scaling new business opportunities, and advancing our efforts to partner with governments and other institutions to address major societal and economic issues.

Mastercard is adding advanced analytics to its Open Banking platform, which is delivered by its subsidiary, Finicity, in the US. According to Mastercard’s Rise of Open Banking Small Business Report, 85% of small business owners are looking for more choices that deliver faster and easier access to capital. These analytics can help lenders manage their risk profiles while also adding diverse and inclusive credit models for small business loans as well as ongoing monitoring and expansion of credit card lines.

“It’s important to realize your power and your voice,” Misa Hylton said Thursday alongside Lil’ Kim on a panel about entrepreneurship and collaboration in Los Angeles. “You can demand what you want, and you can bring your sisters with you.”

Hylton and Lil’ Kim were part of a series of panel discussions organized by Mastercard and Femme It Forward, the female-led music and entertainment company, during Grammys week honoring hip-hop’s 50^th anniversary and celebrating Black women’s entrepreneurship.

Focusing our lens on 2023, one image becomes clear: The global economy will move at multi-speeds, with some countries, companies, and individuals more exposed to headwinds from high inflation and interest rates than others. The Mastercard Economics Institute’s annual “Economic Outlook 2023” draws on a multitude of public and proprietary data sets, including aggregated and anonymized Mastercard switched volumes, as well as models intended to estimate economic activity. The report forecasts four themes that will continue to shape the global economic environment this year — high interest rates and housing, trading down and shopping around, prices and preferences, and shocks and omnichannel.

As decision-makers gathered at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, many struck hopeful notes about the state of the economy, the power of data to combat inequity, and the potential for collaboration to solve global challenges. Leaders debated topics such as deglobalization, decarbonization, distrust, and digitization. Here are Mastercard’s four takeaways from Davos.