Mastercard Center For Inclusive Growth And Asean Business Advisory Council Team Up To Advance Economic Opportunity And Growth

Collaboration kicks off with inaugural Mastercard ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit in Kuala Lumpur in late October

KUALA LUMPUR, MY / ACCESS Newswire / September 2, 2025 / Mastercard

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (the Center) announced a landmark collaboration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Business Advisory Council to host the inaugural Mastercard ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit (the Summit) in Kuala Lumpur in late October - the first of three convenings set to take place in Southeast Asia over the next three years. This significant collaboration deepens Mastercard's commitment to economic growth supporting consumers and small businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

The collaboration underscores the company's alignment with the Business Advisory Council's focus on sustained, inclusive economic growth in the region, amidst an evolving global and economic landscape. The Summit builds on the success of the Center's Global Inclusive Growth Summit and aims to catalyze sustainable economic growth and advance ASEAN's collective prosperity by demonstrating how regional and business leaders can come together to create opportunities for all. The event aims to spur an exchange of ideas between leaders in the East and West, opening the door to innovation, partnerships, shared collaboration and outcomes for the region.

"This collaboration with Mastercard sets the stage for a long-term platform to advance inclusive economic growth in ASEAN. The Summit creates space for meaningful dialogue and collaboration, where regional challenges can be addressed through practical, locally relevant solutions. As we look ahead, our goal is to strengthen ASEAN's position as a driver of sustainable, inclusive prosperity," said Tan Sri Nazir Razak, Chairman of ASEAN Business Advisory Council.

"Southeast Asia is at a pivotal moment where growth must be paired with security, inclusion and access," said Jon Huntsman, Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard. "As the region navigates challenges from economic fragmentation to digital disruption, our collaboration with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council reflects our commitment to helping individuals and businesses unlock economic opportunities, so everyone can benefit from the digital economy."

According to the World Data Lab, more than 1.1 billion people will join the global middle class in the next decade (by 2035), with individuals in Asia driving the majority of that growth. In the ASEAN region, economies have reached a tipping point where half of its citizens belong to the middle class. By 2035, the ASEAN region's middle class is projected to reach 450 million, representing 56% of the population.

At the same time, Southeast Asia's digital economy is expected to grow exponentially, reaching US$560 billion in gross merchandise value by 2030 from US$263 billion in 2024[1]. This digital growth requires deliberate policies, infrastructure investment, cross-sector collaboration and targeted solutions so that the benefits of digitalization can reach more people. Coupled with the region's fast-growing young, digital-first population, the opportunity to build a more inclusive, secure and sustainable digital economy is both immense and critical.

The Summit will bring together government leaders, business pioneers, and development organizations in a high-level forum focused on inclusive and sustainable growth, with a spotlight on micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), digital innovation and impact-driven partnerships. The Summit builds on Mastercard's existing efforts in the ASEAN region, including:

• Investing in small business development - MSMEs make up more than 97 percent of all businesses in Southeast Asia and provide 85 percent of the employment[2]. In Malaysia, MSMEs contribute roughly 40% of GDP, employing over seven million people[3]. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth supports this vital segment through its flagship Mastercard Strive programs in Malaysia and Indonesia, aiming to uplift 400,000 MSMEs across the two countries through digital upskilling programs, mentoring and networking opportunities, and essential resources for accessing credit. Complementing these efforts, the Center is collaborating with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to catalyze up to US$1 billion in credit through ADB financing for MSMEs across Asia Pacific, with at least half focused for women-led or climate-focused enterprises.

• Strengthening cyber resilience - Recognizing that an economy is only as strong as its weakest link in cybersecurity, Mastercard has collaborated with the ASEAN Foundation to roll out a range of initiatives to enhance the cybersecurity capabilities of public sector entities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region, by equipping them with critical knowledge, tools and training. In addition, Mastercard has also been actively championing industry collaboration to drive collective action to prevent, detect, and respond to evolving cyber threats. For instance, Mastercard played a key role in initiating the Singapore and Indonesia chapters of the Global Anti Scam Alliance (GASA), serving as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, and joined hands with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its global alliance in combating scams.

• Driving in-bound tourism - Mastercard is working with tourism ministries and authorities across Southeast Asia to help spur growth and create value for the tourism sector - building on the sector's proven role as a key driver of inclusive economic growth. For instance, Mastercard has been collaborating with Tourism Malaysia to transform and digitize the traveler experience, attract high-value inbound visitors through targeted outreach and unique offerings, and position Malaysia as a premier travel destination, supporting the country's Visit Malaysia (VM) 2026 goals. These collaborations not only fuel growth for the travel sector, but also benefit local small businesses of all stripes, creating more jobs and making a positive impact that extends well beyond tourism itself.

• Accelerating the adoption of digital payments - Mastercard has been actively driving the adoption of digital and contactless payments in Southeast Asia to enable secure and seamless everyday transactions and open up access to a broader market for businesses through digital acceptance.

  • Recently, Mastercard expanded its open-loop payments solutions for transit to the Philippines and Vietnam, bringing commuters greater flexibility and convenience, driving the use of contactless payments, and helping to modernize public transportation systems in Southeast Asia.

  • Mastercard is collaborating with national digital payments networks to enable real-time payments in Thailand and the Philippines. These real-time payments platforms, PromptPay in Thailand and InstaPay in the Philippines, have brought about widespread adoption of digital payments and is the ubiquitous payment method for everyday transactions among individuals. Now, even the smallest of merchants can go cashless and accept digital payments, connecting them to the digital financial ecosystem and unlocking new opportunities.

  • Innovative, cost-effective acceptance solutions such as Tap on Phone have further enabled small businesses and mobile merchants across Southeast Asia to accept contactless payments easily and on-the go using just their smartphones, making digital acceptance more accessible and eliminating the need for hardware terminals.

The inaugural edition of the Mastercard ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit, hosted by the Center, will take place ahead of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, on October 24, 2025; followed by two summits in the region in 2026 and 2027.

Visit the Mastercard ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit website at https://globalinclusivegrowthsummit.com/ for more information.

Media Contacts

Shazleen Shaik, Mastercard

shazleen.shaik@mastercard.com

Media Contacts

Amalia Rosshaimi, Redhill

amalia.rosshaimi@redhill.asia

Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. The Center leverages the company's core assets and competencies, including data insights, expertise, and technology, while administering the philanthropic Mastercard Impact Fund, to produce independent research, scale global programs, and empower a community of thinkers, leaders, and doers on the front lines of inclusive growth. For more information and to receive its latest insights, follow the Center on LinkedIn, Instagram and subscribe to its newsletter.

ASEAN-BAC

Established by the ASEAN Leaders at the 7th ASEAN Summit in November 2001 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam and launched in 2003, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) is the apex private sector body mandated to provide private sector feedback and guidance to boost ASEAN's efforts towards economic integration, and further identify priority areas for consideration of ASEAN leaders. The ASEAN-BAC will lead in coordinating inputs from established business councils and entities in their interactions with various ASEAN sectoral groups.

ASEAN-BAC Malaysia

The ASEAN-BAC Malaysia chapter is an integral member in the regional ASEAN-BAC with regular participation at all Council Meetings and Consultation with ASEAN Leaders. Since 2003, ASEAN-BAC Malaysia has provided policy input at various consultations with the ASEAN Leaders, ASEAN Economic Ministers and ASEAN Sectoral bodies. Notably, ASEAN-BAC Malaysia was the Chair in 2015 when Malaysia announced the formation of the ASEAN Community. ASEAN-BAC Malaysia is represented by Chairman Tan Sri Nazir Razak alongside council members Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Mr. Lim Chern Yuan.

As Malaysia is the ASEAN Chair in 2025, ASEAN-BAC Malaysia is proud to take the lead in all private sector policy initiatives and programmes, supporting Malaysia's Chairmanship vision and Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs). In realising the vision, ASEAN-BAC Malaysia has begun to roll out 12 policy initiatives and over 60 programmes throughout the year aimed at advocating and pushing for the deepening of ASEAN economic integration, and the promotion of increased cross-border business cooperation.

About Mastercard

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we're building a resilient economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

www.mastercard.com

[1] Source: Google, Temasek, and Bain, e-Conomy SEA 2024 report

[2] Source: https://asean.org/our-communities/economic-community/resilient-and-inclusive-asean/development-of-micro-small-and-medium-enterprises-in-asean-msme/

[3] Source: Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and The Asia Foundation launch Strivers' Hub to empower Malaysia's women entrepreneurs

Originally published by Mastercard

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Jon Huntsman (2nd from left), Vice Chairman & President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard, Tan Sri Nazir Razak (3rd from left), Chairman of ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Malaysia, Safdar Khan (1st from left), Division President, Southeast Asia, Mastercard, and Jukhee Hong (1st from right), Executive Director, ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Malaysia at the signing ceremony to host the Mastercard ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit across Southeast Asia over the next three years.

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