Mastercard expands APAC hub in Singapore

Mastercard has opened its largest Innovation Centre of Excellence in Asia Pacific in Singapore, establishing a new regional hub to support the development of the intelligence economy. The facility is designed as a collaboration space where financial institutions, merchants, governments and technology partners can work alongside Mastercard specialists to shape the future of commerce.

The new centre is intended to advance capabilities in responsible artificial intelligence, digital commerce and cybersecurity across the region. From its Singapore base, it will support partners in developing and testing solutions to address emerging challenges in these areas.

The Innovation Centre of Excellence spans more than 7,200 square feet and is Mastercard’s largest Innovation Centre of Excellence in Asia Pacific.

Singapore already functions as Mastercard’s Asia-Pacific headquarters, with more than 850 employees based in the country. The new centre deepens the company’s presence by concentrating specialist expertise in one location to support regional initiatives.

Mastercard intends to create more than 250 specialist roles in Singapore by the end of 2029. These roles are aimed at advancing responsible AI use, digital commerce and cybersecurity throughout the region, strengthening the company’s technical and innovation capabilities.

The facility currently brings together more than 55 specialists working in AI, cybersecurity, customer experience and rapid prototyping. Their work includes designing, testing and refining new concepts and solutions for Mastercard’s partners.

The Singapore Innovation Centre of Excellence houses an AI Centre of Excellence focused on agentic commerce and fraud prevention. This capability is intended to help partners apply AI to real-world commerce use cases while addressing security and risk considerations.

The facility also includes a Fusion Centre that combines cybersecurity, fraud and physical security expertise under one roof. This integrated approach is designed to support comprehensive threat intelligence and response across the payments ecosystem.

A Mastercard Experience Centre within the facility allows financial institutions, merchants and public sector partners to explore emerging technologies in an immersive way. Alongside this, a Makerspace provides an environment for prototyping and testing ideas, helping partners move from concept to implementation more quickly.