As e-commerce continues to accelerate owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, MasterCard is leading the way in fostering cyber security and combatting fraud. With online shopping playing an integral role in the region’s economic recovery, ensuring transaction approval rates remain robust while countering fraud attempts has taken a completely new focus. As part of MasterCard’s commitment to support the financial data and security of consumers and merchants alike, it recently introduced MDES for Merchants (M4M) offering across the region. The new service uses Tokenization technology to speed up and simplify the purchase process online and in-app, as well as for subscription-based and recurring payments like streaming music, video services and utility bills. The new tokenization technology is also designed to protect security of consumers and merchants as shopping goes increasingly digital. Magdy Hassan, Country Manager, Egypt & Pakistan, MasterCard said: “As online shopping gains a stronger foothold in the region, it is integral that businesses ensure the trust of consumers and protect their financial data. At MasterCard, we continue to work with merchants across Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to introduce new solutions that ensures frictionless shopping experience with no compromise on security by enabling technologies like tokenization and leveraging our payment gateway capabilities with MPGS to bring them into market.”