CORPORATE JASON LANE, Executive Vice President Market Development Europe Mastercard
WE NEED TO DREAM MORE OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP We are all connected and it's only going to increase more
Business forum creates an opportunity for people to actually make points that are important to be heard, said the Executive Vice President Market Development Europe at Mastercard
In your speech you spoke about digital revolution, power of digital age and you mentioned one great word connectivity. How important is connectivity nowadays, what is the main challenge of the digital age?
— The key element is that we're already connected, we just don't even realize it. For example, you're using this dictaphone on your phone and you are so connected, because the phone knows where you are and what you're doing, we are even seamless to it. I suppose you are familiar with the term Freemium economy, with products like Facebook, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber and similar like excellent examples of it. It's a great service, a great consumer proposition, but of course, they are making a business case in terms of marketing information. And we feel comfortable in this connected space because we get something back for a valid proposition or a product. We are all connected and it's only going to increase more. Big data is the business case it's only going to increase even more. At the Mobile World Congress we presented some use cases for connectivity so for example, you will already pay for the petrol before you even get to the station. When it comes to the financial payments in this connected world, we want us to have a seamless
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view of payments, the single check-out. Amazon, for example. It's an amazing thing to have a onestop solution, it changes shopping behaviour. We now have the option to not carry any wallets – the smart phone with its connectivity power and contact list is the new wallet.
You also mentioned one great thing, public-private partnership. How important is it and can you please give us an example?
— I think that the most important thing is that we need to dream more today of private-public partnership. On a European stage, I find governments that are very suspicious of the private sector and you
can such a type of campaign contribute to the permanent and non-permanent solution of shadow economy?
— The most important thing about this initiative is that it's powerful, it is an existing lottery program, right? Mastercard, in a conjunction with a number of business representative groups, partnered with the government who said actually “How we can create even stronger incentive to drive a consumer change”. When we talk about the shadow economy, it's not like consumers would like to go and transact in the shadow economy. No, they are actually legitimate buyers and they believe that they are
WHAT'S SO MARVELOUS ABOUT SERBIA IS THE OPENNESS FROM THE GOVERNMENT TO ACTUALLY SEEK HELP AND INPUTS RIGHT AND IT'S DONE IN A GOOD AND BALANCED WAY always have to overjustify yourself, but I see a change coming with this great awareness to work and partner between the sectors. We really need to see more of that. There is resistance to working with the private sector, particularly in Western Europe. What's so marvelous about Serbia is an openness from the government to actually seek help and inputs right and it's done in a good and balanced way. But it's not a case of having to justify it. I think that good use case example is businesses partnering with the government on this fiscal lottery program.
Mastercard is participating in that very good action of Serbian government. How much
Diplomacy&Commerce
interacting with legitimate sellers. As far as a consumer is concerned, this is a legal, legitimate transaction. The problem with the shadow economy is that the retailer, be it a service provider, a plumber, electrician, or someone else, must see the necessity of reporting a revenue as income that ultimately they should be taxed on. We need to talk about not just the shadow economy, but also about the key learning there, which is how do you help the consumer understand that they have a role to play in the resolution of this problem. Anything you do is about how do you change consumer behaviour for the positive and that's what I think is so tremendous about this program, it's really unique.
Your company is a partner of Kopaonik Business Forum. How much can such types of gatherings contribute to the development of economy and interraction between government and the private sector?
— We are a company that believes
that we need to do well for our shareholders, but we also need to do good for everyone else. So we need to get the right balance, talk about sustainable economies and sustainable consumers for the future, which is why we focus so much on financial growth. We realize that we need to be working a lot closer with governments to understand their objectives and how we can help them in our own little way. In an environment like this Business forum, it is truly phenomenal. There is something unique about this, it has the right pull and more importantly, gives people the opportunity to network. It creates an opportunity for people to actually make points that are important to be heard. I really want to compliment the Serbian organizers and Serbian people should be grateful for this openness from the government and willingness and passion from the private sector to engage, to create what is a real conversation.
Future plans in Serbia?
— As a future for Serbia we have an
open invitation from the government of Serbia to really partner and help them on creating a strongerpayment sector, that is something we will embrace. We will combine our efforts to create stronger, more viable solutions. The growth we have seen in Serbia is fantastic, and we expect that it will continue.
