Dhaka, Bangladesh – November 28, 2020 – To celebrate the 29th anniversary of its operations in Bangladesh, Mastercard announced the ‘Mastercard Excellence Awards 2020’- Celebration of Achievements in Digital Payments, in a virtual ceremony recognizing top-performing banks, financial institutions and partner merchants. The ceremony was a celebration of the company’s achievements of close to three decades underlining its commitment to building a seamless, secure and efficient digital payments ecosystem in Bangladesh and supporting the country’s financial inclusion goals. Banks, financial institutions and merchants across 11 categories were recognized for their accomplishments in bringing innovative solutions towards this goal.
Present at the virtual ceremony were Chief Guest Salman F. Rahman, MP, Private Sector Development Industry & Investment Advisor, Prime Minister’s Office; Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia, Mastercard; Vikas Varma, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia; Syed Mohammad Kamal, Country Manager, Bangladesh, Mastercard; and other senior officials from partner banks and financial institutions.
Winners across the following award categories were recognized: Excellence in Mastercard Debit Business 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Credit Business (Domestic) 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Credit Business (International) 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Prepaid Business 2019-2020; Excellence in Mastercard POS Acquiring Business 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Online Acquiring Business 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Digital Solution 2019-2020; Excellence in Mastercard Online Acquiring (PF) Business 2018-19; Excellence in Mastercard Business (Merchant)- POS 2019-20; Excellence in Mastercard Business (Merchant)- Online 2019-20; Newest Mastercard Member 2019-20.
Speaking on the occasion, Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia, Mastercard said, “Mastercard fully supports the vision of the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh to build a Digital Bangladesh by 2021. Since the inception of Mastercard’s journey in Bangladesh, driving financial inclusion via innovation has been a key priority. This year has been exceptional, and Mastercard is thankful for the partnership and commitment demonstrated by all stakeholders to achieving uninterrupted commerce, even during the months of lockdown. Mastercard remains committed to its partners and will continue to work in collaboration with them and other local stakeholders to create a safe, secure and seamless payments ecosystem in the country.”
In its second year, Mastercard Excellence Awards aims to recognize partners for their contribution to creating innovative solutions and delivering accomplishments in various areas of business growth. Mastercard is the first payments scheme in Bangladesh that ensured interoperability between MFS and card by launching Add Money and BanglaQR, Bangladesh’s first Interoperable QR code acceptance solution approved by Bangladesh Bank, in collaboration with its partners in recent years.
In the past 29 years of operations, Mastercard has partnered with 20 banks in Bangladesh, namely AB Bank, Bank Asia, Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd, BRAC Bank, Dhaka Bank Limited, Dutch Bangla Bank, Eastern Bank Limited, Islami Bank Limited, LankaBangla Finance, Mutual Trust Bank Limited, National Bank Limited, NCC Bank Limited, Premier Bank, Prime Bank, Pubali Bank, Social Islami Bank Limited, Southeast Bank Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank, The City Bank, United Commercial Bank.
