MasterCard inControl is an innovative and secure payment platform that empowers corporates and consumers to set spending limits on their accounts and manage how, when and where they use their card online.

The strategic alliance between First Data and MasterCard will support e-commerce spending by giving cardholders greater control and providing reassurance with enhanced security features.

For the first time this year, consumers in Asia Pacific are expected to spend more on e-commerce purchases than those in North America, making it the largest regional e-commerce market in the world. This year alone, B2C e-commerce sales in the region are expected to reach $525.2 billion, compared to $482.6 billion in the United States.[1]

Raj Dhamodharan, group head for emerging payments at MasterCard for Asia Pacific, said that MasterCard is committed to driving innovation and development of new technologies that bring greater convenience, confidence, and ease to merchants and consumers.

"Our partnership with First Data is a strategic initiative that gives their clients access to an innovative payments solution. We strongly believe that the inControl platform will not only provide more secure transactions for consumers, but will also help them manage their spending and budgeting more effectively," Mr. Dhamodharan said.

Marc Mathenz, senior vice president and head of First Data's Asia Pacific region, said that First Data was pleased to introduce these customer benefits for the first time in Asia Pacific.

"First Data is a leading solution provider of payment technology and services to financial institutions in Asia Pacific, and MasterCard's inControl solution will help our financial institution clients provide greater choice to their customers. For banks, this solution will support new account growth, increase card usage, protect against e-commerce fraud and help build deeper customer relationships," Mr. Mathenz said.

First Data's VisionPLUS platform is a leading universal cards and payments solution covering a wide range of credit, commercial, debit and prepaid products. First Data handles more than 100 million cards for leading banks in the region and is looking to grow footprint through its multi-product payment hub strategy with the recent launch of VisionPLUS Flex.

MasterCard inControl has a range of offerings to meet the needs of different types of cardholders, from small and large businesses to families. It provides cardholders with customised spend management tools and generates dynamic virtual card numbers (VCN) to help reduce potential losses resulting from stolen credit card numbers. It also provides real-time alerts of each transaction to prevent fraudulent card use.