Mastercard Max, an AI-powered assistant designed to help cardholders discover and use their benefits, is now available globally. Banks and other card issuers can integrate the service into their existing digital channels, allowing customers to find eligible benefits and receive guidance based on their card, location and circumstances.
Several banks are working to offer the service. Brazil’s C6 Bank is among the first issuers bringing Mastercard Max to cardholders, while SNB Group, Nedbank, I&M Bank and Attijariwafa Bank are also working to introduce it. Citi is exploring opportunities to make the assistant available to customers in Singapore and Hong Kong SAR.
Card benefits tailored to individual circumstances
Mastercard Max combines conversational AI with benefit information from Mastercard and participating issuers. Cardholders can ask questions in everyday language and receive relevant answers about the privileges available through their cards and how to use them. Recommendations adjust according to the customer’s card, eligibility, location and context.
Travel is one example of how the assistant could work. When a cardholder is booking a trip, Mastercard Max can identify relevant travel benefits and experiences. During the journey, it can provide reminders about airport lounge access or Fast Track services, explain what is included and guide the customer through accessing them. At the destination, it can highlight eligible dining, entertainment and other nearby experiences.
These recommendations are intended to appear within an issuer’s existing digital channels, alongside the banking and card services customers already use. This allows cardholders to access benefit guidance without having to search through separate lists of privileges or websites.
Banks can integrate the assistant into existing services
Mastercard manages the AI models, benefit content and underlying processes that support Mastercard Max. Issuers can embed the assistant in their mobile banking apps or connect it to existing AI assistants through agent-to-agent capabilities. This allows banks to introduce conversational benefit guidance without developing and maintaining the technology themselves.
C6 Bank plans to incorporate Mastercard Max into its existing AI-powered customer experience. The Brazilian digital bank already uses AI agents that perform specialised functions, and the integration will allow customers to ask questions about their card benefits and receive recommendations suited to their circumstances, whether at home or travelling.
“Consumers shouldn’t have to dig through multiple apps or websites to understand their card benefits. At C6 Bank, we already use artificial intelligence to simplify customer experience, with AI agents each performing a specialised and specific function. Mastercard Max will be integrated into this experience to answer questions and help cardholders find the most relevant benefits when they matter most, at home or abroad,” said Gustavo Torres, Head of Innovation at C6 Bank.
Mastercard describes privacy, security and responsible data practices as central to the service’s design.
Issuers seek greater engagement with card benefits
Limited awareness of existing card benefits is one issue Mastercard aims to address through the assistant. Research cited by the company found that 68% of affluent millennials would use their cards more frequently if they better understood the benefits available to them. Across Asia Pacific, Mastercard also identifies increasing demand for rewards that match customers’ lifestyles, interests and spending preferences.
Mastercard intends the assistant to encourage greater engagement and card usage by bringing applicable benefits to customers’ attention. Joyce Bo, executive vice president, Core Payments, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said making existing privileges more useful in everyday situations could encourage customers to use their cards more frequently and help issuers strengthen loyalty over time.
