Mastercard Executive VP Chad Wallace Is On a Mission To Bring Embedded Finance To All

Chad Wallace is among the finance professionals attending Benzinga's Fintech Deal Day on Nov. 13 in New York City.

Chad Wallace is an Executive Vice President (EVP) and Global Head of Commercial Solutions at Mastercard and a member of the Management Committee. He is responsible for overseeing Mastercard’s Commercial Card offerings, including T&E, Purchasing, Fleet and virtual card solutions, while also driving the digital transformation of corporate payments across accounts payable, procurement and treasury.

Wallace is among finance professionals attending Benzinga's Fintech Deal Day on Nov. 13 in New York City. He will moderate the discussion titled "Enabling Embedded Finance: Strategies and Best Practices."

Before Mastercard, Wallace accumulated an impressive resume at top financial institutions. He was the Global Head of Digital for Transaction Banking within Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking division. In this role, he led the digital product and design organization responsible for building the cash management offering, including liquidity and payment solutions, for supporting the launch of Transaction Banking in various global markets.

He also served as Head of Digital Experiences for the Commercial Bank at Capital One and held leadership roles at stock brokerages like TD Ameritrade and E*Trade Financial.

Wallace is an outspoken leader in the LGBTQ+ community, with experience leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs to accelerate commercial opportunities, expand global partnerships, and assist partners in establishing their own DEI activities.

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Taking Embedded Finance to the Next Level

Embedded finance places a financial product in a non-financial customer experience. Some of the best practical life examples include ordering food through a mobile platform or using a ride-sharing app.

Naturally, consumers want faster and easier services, while companies want to receive payments quicker. People like Wallace stand in the middle, innovating so that both sides get a satisfying outcome.

Wallace believes that relationship management and co-creation in innovation, developing new products and application programming interfaces (APIs) are crucial for B2B payments as these systems get faster and more streamlined.

Wallace focuses on the importance of APIs but acknowledges blockchain's applicability, particularly for situations that require real-time immutability.

"Our heavy investments are currently focused on both APIs and blockchain capabilities, and we’re committed to further developments in these areas. We recently launched a new developer platform and dedicated significant effort to enhance the developer experience," he stated in a recent interview.

Building Financial Utopia Starts at Home

Wallace reflected on a real-life example regarding his partner, a small business owner.

"His day-to-day challenges include paying employees, handling invoices, and managing liquidity. However, he shouldn’t need to be a treasurer; his focus should be on designing homes for his clients. Many small businesses use their banks and accounting platforms, but integrating these tools can be complex." Wallace said, adding that his goal is to deliver a seamless, human-centered consumer experience.

He also offered his vision of embedded finance.

"The idea is for financial tools to become seamlessly integrated into the daily operations of businesses. In such a world, payments would essentially become invisible to users. People would concentrate on managing cash flow, making the best use of their capital, and allocating resources efficiently, rather than dealing with the intricacies of payment processes," he concluded.

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