Mastercard (MA) Partners to Issue Cards for Latvia's Residents
Mastercard Incorporated MA recently collaborated with the renowned non-banking financial service provider of Latvia, Transact Pro and the Municipality of Jelgava, to unveil the Mastercard City Key card offering across the European country.
Post the launch in September, the first bunch of cards will be dispensed to the students of the Latvian city Jelgava during the summer of 2022, which typically runs from June to September in Europe (as cited by the famous travel agency Thomas Cook).
The second lot of cards will be distributed to pensioners this October. The inaugural launch of the Mastercard City Key solution will be expanded to other Latvian cities by 2022 end.
The innovative Mastercard City Key solution offers multiple benefits to Jelgava residents, simplifying their everyday lives. They can receive municipal social benefits and discounts as well as utilize the card as an identity tool to access municipal facilities. The card solution will also enable residents to conduct loop payments and avail discounts while purchasing from merchants that accept Mastercard branded cards.
Apart from benefiting the Jelgava community on the payments space, the solution will help strengthen the city's administration, manage accounting and facilitate amenities to aid its residents.
The Mastercard City Key solution contains several layers of privacy and safety standards that MA makes sure to inject into each of its offerings.
Increased deployment of Mastercard’s City Key solution across Latvia is expected to strengthen its presence throughout the country. Distribution of the solution across Jelgava also follows a successful alliance of the city with MA. The Latvian city remains a member within the global network of City Possible, the model that was introduced by Mastercard in 2018 to address urban challenges via partnerships.
When it comes to developing card offerings backed by technological advancements, Mastercard remains a pioneering entity. MA actively makes digital transformation efforts globally on the back of its enhanced digital capabilities, developed through tie-ups and significant investments.
While Mastercard’s partnerships with several organizations introduced cost-effective solutions globally, its investments reflect its endeavor to modernize the global digital payments landscape.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 1.7% in the past six months against the industry’s decline of 1.6%.
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Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
Mastercard currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some other top-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are Information Services Group, Inc. III, Huron Consulting Group Inc. HURN and Barrett Business Services, Inc. BBSI. While Huron Consulting sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Information Services Group and Barrett Business Services carry a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The bottom line of Information Services Group International outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and matched the mark once, the average being 32.50%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for III’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 2.3% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 3.5% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for III’s 2022 earnings has moved 4.7% north in the past 60 days.
Huron Consulting’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 19.41%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HURN’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 25.7% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 17.8% from the prior-year reading. The consensus mark for HURN’s 2022 earnings has moved 2.5% north in the past 60 days.
The bottom line of Barrett Business Services outpaced estimates in three of the last four quarters and met the mark once, the average being 45.83%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BBSI’s 2022 earnings suggests an improvement of 26% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 12% from the year-ago actuals. The consensus mark for BBSI’s 2022 earnings has moved 3.8% north in the past 60 days.
Shares of Huron Consulting and Barrett Business Services have gained 46.6% and 10.3%, respectively, in the past six months. However, the Information Services Group stock has lost 25.4% in the same time frame.
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