Mastercard sets up Intelligence and Cyber Centre in Vancouver

Mastercard has inaugurated a global Intelligence and Cyber Centre in Vancouver, Canada, the sixth in its portfolio focused on cyber solutions for the payments’ industry, the company announced.

“Ensuring payments are both convenient and secure has always been a top priority for Mastercard,” said Ajay Banga, president and chief executive officer of Mastercard. “The Vancouver center will help us meet the growing demand for technology solutions to reduce the cost of cyber-attacks, enable today’s connected devices to become tomorrow’s secure payment devices, and address the growing vulnerabilities associated with the Internet of Things.”

Mastercard invested $510 million in the innovation hub, opened in partnership with the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund.

“As Canadians use connected devices more and more, including for sensitive financial services like banking, they want to know that their data and privacy are protected,” said The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “Our government is investing in a new cybersecurity center in Canada to develop the technology solutions Canadians and people all over the world need to protect their personal and financial information when they use their devices. This will make Canada a world leader in cybersecurity and help us tackle the cost of cybercrime in Canada—an estimated $3 billion a year.”

Mastercard has been actively involved in investing in Canadian innovation and talent. In 2017, following the purchase of Vancouver company NuData Security, Mastercard started leveraging its online and mobile fraud detection solutions using behavioral biometrics. In 2019, it purchased biometric security and fraud prevention developer Ethoca from Toronto.

“Expanding our presence in Canada allows us to tap into the country’s talented workforce and thriving technology ecosystem, to help bring innovations to market even faster,” Banga added.

The new space is in the Exchange office tower in the Old Stock Exchange building. The NuData Security team with added members from Mastercard’s Research & Development, Operations & Technology, and Cyber & Intelligence divisions have already moved into the space.

The new center will provide 380 jobs to boost innovative projects in digital and cyber security, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things. Open positions include software engineers, data scientists, project managers, analysts, product designers and information security experts. Mastercard’s Canadian headquarters are in Toronto and global technology centers in New York, St. Louis, India (Pune-Vadodara), Dublin and Sydney.

Article Topics

behavioral biometrics  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  Canada  |  cybersecurity  |  financial services  |  fraud prevention  |  IoT  |  Mastercard