Mastercard & Backbase launch AI banking collaboration

Mastercard and Backbase have agreed a strategic collaboration to make four Mastercard services available through Backbase's AI-native Banking OS. The move brings Mastercard's banking tools to a platform used by more than 120 banks in 50 countries.

The services are Dynamic Yield, Test & Learn, SpendingPulse and Cyber Quant. Banks using Backbase will be able to access tools for personalisation, analytics, customer engagement and cyber risk assessment through the platform.

Lenders such as Navy Federal Credit Union, TD Bank and KeyBank use Backbase's system. The tie-up gives those institutions, and others on the platform, direct access to Mastercard products that have typically been sold separately.

The agreement reflects a broader push by banks to move artificial intelligence projects beyond limited trials and into day-to-day operations. Here, the focus is on so-called agentic AI, in which software systems carry out tasks on behalf of customers within agreed consent settings.

Dynamic Yield is designed to tailor digital experiences and offers across online banking journeys. Test & Learn measures the commercial impact of changes in products, pricing, campaigns and customer experience.

SpendingPulse provides macroeconomic and sector-level spending data that banks can use in planning and decision-making. Cyber Quant helps financial institutions assess cyber risk and discuss resilience needs.

AI execution

The collaboration comes as financial institutions face pressure to modernise ageing systems while also showing returns on technology spending. Banks have spent several years testing AI in areas such as service, fraud controls and marketing, but many have struggled to embed those tools in core operating processes.

For Backbase, the arrangement adds external data and software services to a platform it positions as the operating layer for digital banking. For Mastercard, it offers another route into banks' daily technology environments beyond payments and card services.

Ricardo Ribelles, VP of Collaborations and Alliances at Backbase, said the partnership was intended to shorten the path from trials to deployment.

"By deepening our collaboration with Mastercard, we're accelerating our ability to help banks worldwide harness the full potential of AI. This collaboration goes beyond technology integration-it brings together two ecosystems that, combined, give banks a faster, more trusted path from AI experimentation to real business outcomes. Together, we are helping financial institutions access capabilities that support more personalized customer engagement, stronger decision-making and greater operational resilience," said Ricardo Ribelles, VP of Collaborations and Alliances at Backbase.

Mastercard linked the agreement to a broader shift in banking from testing AI tools to embedding them in production systems.

"Banks are moving from AI experimentation to AI execution, and the infrastructure underneath that shift matters enormously. Through this collaboration, financial institutions can access Mastercard capabilities that support personalization, analytics, cyber resilience and customer engagement as they advance their digital transformation journeys. This is how agentic banking moves from proof of concept to production," said Selin Bahadirli, Executive Vice President of Services, EEMEA at Mastercard.

Broader push

The deal also fits into Mastercard's wider work around AI in payments and commerce. The company previously demonstrated a live Agent Pay transaction in the UAE and later introduced Mastercard Agent Suite, aimed at helping businesses build AI-based payment and commerce tools.

That matters because banks are under growing pressure to determine how AI agents can act for customers without creating new risks in security, compliance and control. A platform approach allows banks to add services within systems already used by staff and customers, rather than building separate AI environments from scratch.

Backbase has built its business around replacing fragmented banking interfaces with a single operating environment for digital channels, front-office teams and operations. Its software is used across retail banking, small business and commercial banking, private banking and wealth management.

The partnership suggests vendors now see the next stage of AI adoption in banking as less about launching standalone assistants and more about connecting data, decision tools and customer processes in one place. That could appeal to banks trying to manage costs while still introducing new services and tighter security oversight.

The collaboration aims to help financial institutions access tools that support more personalised customer engagement, stronger decision-making, and greater operational resilience.