Malaysia has been selected by Mastercard as the location of its newest Data & Services (D&S) Hub to service businesses and governments across the Asia Pacific region to boost capabilities in cybersecurity, digital transformation and credit risk.

Off the back of Mastercard’s partnership with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) announced in March to build a Cyber Innovation Hub and offer skills training and courses in cybersecurity for students, the new hub will also work to provide further opportunities in career development and upskilling for talent and graduates across the region.

“Mastercard is passionate about offering next-generation services and value to customers – from retail and commerce, financial and non-financial institutions to governments – empowering them to solve business problems from end-to-end,” Ari Sarker, President, Asia Pacific at Mastercard, said.

“APAC is a powerhouse of economic growth, and we’re seeing many of the emerging markets across the region leapfrog some of the more conventional steps towards digitalisation. This kind of rapid change demands dedicated expertise — the type of which will be offered by Mastercard’s newest Data & Services Hub in Kuala Lumpur, which will support the organization in servicing clients from Southeast Asia to China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.”

The Kuala Lumpur hub will extend Mastercard’s global D&S capabilities to the local Asia Pacific region, already offering solutions in hyper-personalisation, product development, end-to-end marketing, data science and payments consulting to almost 4,000 clients in over 120 countries.

“Malaysia is committed to becoming a leader in shaping digitalization across APAC,” Fahmi Fadzil, Minister of Communications and Digital, Malaysia, said.

“The launch of Mastercard’s Data & Services Hub in Kuala Lumpur is a very good opportunity for us to become a more integral part of the region’s digital landscape, while helping to strengthen our local talent pool in this increasingly important part of the digital economy. We look forward to building on our relationship with Mastercard to help create more mutually beneficial opportunities in the future.”