At MPE 2026, Corina Metternich from Deutsche Bank and Katharina Luschnik from Mastercard centered on a shared mission to reduce complexity for merchants in an increasingly diverse and fragmented payments landscape
Luschnik explained that Mastercard’s ambition is to make payment acceptance easier, better integrable, and more consumable for merchants. Specifically, under the Open Finance concept, Luschnik noted that Mastercard helps merchants gain further insights through open banking data and provides an Account-to-Account (A2A) payment method as an alternative to card payments. This infrastructure is delivered in cooperation with Deutsche Bank to provide a ready-to-use A2A payment proposition.
Metternich emphasized Deutsche Bank’s belief that there is no one-size-fits-all for merchants when it comes to accepting payments as the team focuses on understanding a merchant’s specific pain points, advising them on the right mix of payment methods, and helping clients localize their offerings for success in different countries. Metternich confirmed they are seeing a clear shift away from card payments into account-to-account payment methods and more localisation.
Luschnik further detailed Mastercard’s obligation as an infrastructure provider: to adapt to new trends within the payment ecosystem which involves supporting various technologies such as tokenized card details, stablecoins, encryption, security mechanisms, and transaction monitoring. In the context of open finance, the goal is to enrich transactions with data insights and offer A2A payments as a core option, dependent on regional and consumer preference.
Ultimately, both Mastercard and Deutsche Bank agreed that MPE is vital for staying on the pulse of needs of merchants, while also stressing the need to understand merchant pain points and roadmaps, not just for 2026 but for the next few years.