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BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 01: A view of the MasterCard company logo on their stand during Mobile World Congress on March 1, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Joan Cros Garcia/Corbis via Getty Images)
Joan Cros Garcia-Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images
MasterCard announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Minna Technologies, a software company that makes it easier for consumers to manage their subscriptions.
The move comes as Mastercard and its main payments network rival, Visa, rapidly attempt to expand beyond their core credit and debit card businesses into technology services, such as cybersecurity, fraud prevention and bank payments.
Mastercard declined to disclose financial details of the transaction which is currently under regulatory review.
The payments giant said the deal, along with other initiatives it has engaged in regarding subscriptions, will allow it to give consumers a way to access all of their subscriptions in a single view, whether either in your banking application or in a central “hub”.
Minna Technologies, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, develops technology that helps consumers manage their subscriptions within their banking apps and websites, regardless of the payment method they used for their subscriptions.
The company said it works with some of the world’s largest financial institutions today. It already counts Mastercard as a key partner as well as its rival Visa.
“These teams and technologies will add to the broader set of tools that help manage the merchant-consumer relationship and minimize any disruption to their experience,” Mastercard said in a blog post Tuesday.
Today’s consumers often have tons of subscriptions to manage across multiple services like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney Plus. Having multiple subscriptions can make it difficult to cancel them, as consumers may end up losing track of which subscriptions they are paying for and when.
Mastercard noted that this can negatively impact merchants, as consumers who are unable to easily cancel their subscriptions end up calling their bank to request a hold on current payments.
According to data from Juniper Research, there are 6.8 billion subscriptions worldwide, a figure that is expected to reach 9.3 billion by 2028.
Incumbent financial services operators such as Mastercard have rapidly expanded their product offerings to remain competitive with emerging fintech players who are offering more convenient and native digital ways to manage consumers’ financial management needs.
In 2020, Mastercard acquired Finicity, a US fintech company that allows third parties – such as fintechs or other banks – to access consumers’ banking information and make payments on their behalf.
Earlier this year, the company announced that by 2030 it would tokenize all cards issued on its network in Europe. In other words, as a consumer, you would no longer need to manually enter your card details and would only have to use your fingerprint to authenticate your identity when paying.
Visa, meanwhile, is also trying to stay competitive against fintech challengers. Last month, the company launched a new service called Visa A2A, which makes it easier for consumers to set up and manage direct debits, which are payments taken directly from your bank account rather than by card.