MasterCard reaffirms Venezuela as priority market

MasterCard reaffirmed Venezuela as one of its priority investment markets in Latin America and is advancing the migration of the Maestro network toward debit cards with contactless technology and tokenization systems.

Carlos Quintero, MasterCard's vice president of marketing for Latin America, said the company has maintained continuous operations in Venezuela for 30 years and noted that the country is among the multinational's main investment destinations in the region. Tokenization makes it possible to replace sensitive information with digital identifiers, reducing the exposure of financial data in contactless payments.

Meanwhile, the business climate in the country shows mixed positions among foreign investors. According to El Nacional, figures such as Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, have recently said that many investors prefer to wait for greater institutional guarantees and the rule of law before committing capital over the long term.

This momentum in digital payment methods coexists with the limits of mass consumption and the cost of living. According to data published by the portal Descifrado citing Cendas-FVM, the family food basket for five members reached $761.35 in September, an increase of 0.79% from $755.36 recorded in August.