Middle class momentum

For years, the spotlight on Asia’s economy has been trained on the extremes – the ultra-wealthy or the struggling poor. But a new story is taking shape, focused on the growth of Southeast Asia’s middle class, with Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines leading the way.  

That story took center stage recently in Kuala Lumpur at the first-ever ASEAN Inclusive Growth Summit, hosted by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth . It featured the drivers of this growth: small and medium-sized businesses. 

Entertainers-turned-entrepreneurs Cinta Laura Kiehl , Kylie Verzosa and Maudy Ayunda showed how they’re turning creativity and community into thriving businesses, while digital platforms and tools such as Grab , TikTok 's ASEAN SOAR Together and Mastercard Strive are helping woman-led and rural businesses reach customers they never could before. 

The summit also featured panels and fireside chats on sustainability, tourism and cybersecurity, underscoring the need for growth that is secure, shared and resilient. “Without inclusion, progress may be more fragile as inequality rises and trust in institutions erodes,” said Malaysia’s deputy king, HRH Sultan Nazrin Shah, the ruler of Perak state.  

You can watch clips from the sessions, get a virtual tour of the Mastercard Strive Marketplace and watch Center founder and President Shamina Singh interview attendees as part of her “Shamina on the Street” series on Instagram and LinkedIn. Watch full panels on demand here. And check out the latest edition of “In the Loop,” our Asia Pacific newscast that trained its lens on the summit (and offered a bonus look ahead at this week’s Singapore FinTech Festival ).  

AI everywhere 

AI is taking over — Money20/20 at least. The tech dominated the annual financial services trade show in Las Vegas, from panel discussions to booth presentations to ad hoc meetings. 

Gaining traction: agentic commerce, where chatbots handle shopping, bookings and payments, with Greg Ulrich , Mastercard’s chief AI and data officer (in photo above), saying it’s the “number one, two and three point of the conversation” with customers and partners. “They want to be ready for the future.” Case in point: Mastercard Agent Pay will integrate with PayPal’s wallet to scale agentic commerce to hundreds of millions of consumers and tens of millions of merchants globally. 

Also moving from experimentation to everyday operations: crypto and blockchain solutions. In fact, Ronak Daya , head of product at blockchain infrastructure company Paxos , sees an opportunity for crypto in the fast-moving agentic commerce space: “If agentic commerce is going to take off, it’s going to need guardrails and rails to be able to operate those transactions, and crypto provides a very clear answer to that,” he says.  

Strengthening trust in this ever-evolving digital world was also top of mind — look no further than the launch of Mastercard Threat Intelligence, which harnesses the insights from its recent acquisition of Recorded Future for more proactive fraud defense. Want to learn more about threat intelligence? Check out our video explainer. For a deep look into how cyber and fraud teams can bridge gaps to give banks early warning signs they need, Mastercard’s Urooj Burney has got you covered. 

Our roving reporter has the scoop from the show here.  

The last word 

"What are we seeing that's telling us that something could happen? Government can't answer that question without industry. Industry can't answer that question without government. You're putting together a puzzle without all the pieces." 

Kiersten E. Todt , Mastercard’s senior vice president for Cybersecurity Partnership & Engagement, on why collaboration must be a key ingredient in building a more resilient ecosystem. Read the Q&A with Todt here.  

Watch out  

TV presenter, athlete and disability advocate Ade Adepitan shows how small businesses are tapping into the power of London’s new Superloop, the contactless-enabled express bus network that improves connections between the outer suburbs.  

ICYMI 

Paying it forward: Mastercard Chief Financial Officer Sachin Mehra shows how the company’s long-term strategy — keeping payments at the core and building on the data and insights they generate — is paying off in his blog on third-quarter earnings. Plus, CEO Michael Miebach shares his quick takeaways in this video.  

Past the password: In the fight against today’s AI-powered cyberthreats, passwords aren’t cutting it. That’s why the FIDO Alliance is working with Mastercard and other partners to accelerate passkey adoption and other standards for verifiable credentials that make it easier to prove you are who you say you are online. Read this Q&A with FIDO chief Andrew Shikiar .

Fast friends: When Mallory Kilmer moved to New York City, she just wanted someone to run with — and ended up connecting thousands of runners around the world through her club No More Lonely Runs. This year, Kilmer teamed up with Mastercard, a sponsor of the New York City Marathon , to bring that same spirit of connection and passion for running to race day, including a surprise bib giveaway and Priceless Start bonus. Here’s her story.