- Thought Machine has extended its relationship with Mastercard.
- The two are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions.
- The two first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program.
Core banking platform Thought Machine announced today it has extended its relationship with Mastercard this week.
In this latest venture, the two companies are advancing their partnership to offer core banking and payment solutions to financial institutions. Mastercard is integrating its network and digital solutions with Thought Machine’s cloud-native core banking platform to help banks transition from their legacy core banking and payment technologies to cloud-native ones. Ultimately, the two hope the move will increase their efficiency, reduce costs, and create more integrated, personalized, and customer-centric experiences.
“As we expand our partnership with Mastercard, we plan to leverage their global presence and payment expertise to deliver our core banking and payment platforms to banks worldwide,” said Thought Machine CEO and founder Paul Taylor. “We are excited to simplify and enhance the modernization experience for complex banks worldwide and make it even easier for them to deliver sophisticated customer experiences.”
Today’s partnership also focuses on pay-now solutions. Specifically, the two will help financial institutions digitize debit cards linked to current accounts.
“We’ve had a longstanding relationship with Thought Machine, and they’re now our first strategic, end-to-end partner in the core banking space,” said Mastercard Europe President Mark Barnett. “We’re providing leading banks and financial institutions with a comprehensive core banking and card issuing solution that meets tomorrow’s payment needs, and we look forward to scaling our joint capabilities.”
Mastercard and Thought Machine first partnered in 2020, when Thought Machine participated in the Mastercard Start Path startup engagement program. In 2022, the two teamed up to develop Vault Payments, an issuer processing solution that leverages Mastercard’s cloud technology. Vault Payments supports various card and non-card use cases, tapping Mastercard’s extensive payment network with Thought Machine’s banking technology.
U.K.-based Thought Machine has raised $563 million in funding since it was founded in 2014. The company offers two main products: Vault Core, a tool that leverages smart contracts to help organizations design and build new financial products; and Vault Payments, a payments processing platform that enables banks to run all payment types for different payment methods, schemes, and regions across the globe. Among Thought Machine’s clients are Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Curve.