As Pride month kicks off, Mastercard has announced the expansion of its True Name card feature across the globe, empowering LGBT+ customers to display their preferred name on bank cards.
For many people around the world, the identity printed on their bank cards does not reflect who they truly are. True Name from Mastercard has been designed to change that, enabling trans and non-binary customers to display their chosen name on their card; and protect them from discrimination/harassment.
Nearly one-third (32%) of individuals who have shown IDs with a name or gender that did not match their presentation reported negative experiences, such as being harassed, denied services, and/or attacked, according to research from Washington, DC’s National Center for Transgender Equality. This feature aims to provide a level of protection to help avoid that.
“Inclusion is the foundation of what we stand for as a company, which is why we continue to call on the industry to join this effort and enable cardholders to leverage their chosen name because everyone deserves financial products that reflect their true identity,” stated Cheryl Guerin, EVP of Marketing and Communications in North America for Mastercard.
TRUE NAME IN EUROPE
Mastercard’s partners in Europe and North America will now enable cardholders to use their chosen name on their card offerings. True Name is expanding into the European market with the card feature being made available via challenger bank bunq in 30 markets across Europe. In addition, challenger bank Monzo becomes the first UK-based issuer to partner with Mastercard on the True Name initiative, enabling customers to leverage their preferred name on Monzo cards and app.
“At bunq we believe in the freedom to live your life the way you want to,” said Ali Niknam, CEO and Founder of bunq. “True Name helps ensure that everyone who chooses to bank with bunq is able to do just that, enabling the use of your chosen name on your bunq banking solutions. We’re thrilled to join Mastercard in this important initiative.”
TRUE NAME EXPANDS IN US
Mastercard has expanded True Name’s deployment in North America too, through BM Technologies (BMTX) and Republic Bank & Trust Company. They join BMO Harris and Citi already who are already offering this feature to customers.
“We are excited to partner with Mastercard’s initiative of fostering a more inclusive and diverse community by providing our issuers and their cardholders the opportunity to participate in the True Name programme,” commented Gaylon Jowers, Senior Executive Vice President, Global Payments and President of TSYS Issuer Solutions. “We have a longstanding record of providing innovative solutions that put people at the center of payments.”
Luvleen Sidhu, Chair, CEO and Founder of BM Technologies (BMTX), added: “We are proud that Mastercard is partnering with BM Technologies (BMTX) on its True Name initiative, which will become part of our white label banking product offering. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental components of our company and we hope our banking experience makes all of our customers feel empowered both individually and financially.”
MasterCard introduced the True Name feature to prevent LGBT discrimination back in 2019. Click here to read more.
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