Working at Mastercard

Everyday Islamic Finance Business and Career Questions
#1

Assalam Alaikum,

Thank you for this forum and I ask Allah to bless and please you in this world and the hereafter.

I am part of Mastercard graduate program, which is a rotational program, and I have the following questions:

  1. My first rotation was with the Loyalty team, which is responsible for the benefits and rewards on both debit and credit cards for commercial and Islamic banks. Is this permissible work? I’ve also recognized (after leaving the team) that some minor tasks were eventually linked to benefits like insurance and wine discounts for example. What should I do in this case?

  2. For my second rotation, I was asked to join the credit cards team. I pushed back because my role included building a strategy to up-sell credit cards in specific markets. Although our revenue isn’t coming from interest and we don’t control the interest banks charge, I assumed it’s not permissible work. Is this correct?

  3. Instead, I joined the debit cards team. However, my work is still related to the credit team and supports them, as the two teams work closely together and on the same projects many of the times. Is this permissible?

  4. I know that you view Mastercard stock as Halal, is this also applicable on working in Mastercard? Does it depend on the role? What roles would be permissible? (given that almost all the teams support each other including selling credit cards and getting all the different benefits). Would a role for M&A, pricing, or analytics be permissible?

Thank you in advance.

1 Like
#2

Wasalam

May Allah bless you.

  1. My understanding is that the benefits such as “wine discounts” is connected to the buyer purchasing a certain brand of wines or purchasing wines from a certain shops. The discount is offered by the wine seller not Mastercard. Ultimately, purchasing wines is the action of the cardholder. I don’t see any issue with the role. This is similar to working for a supermarket who has incentives for people to come and buy haram products from them.

  2. My understanding is as you said, Mastercard makes money through fees paid by their clients such as card issuers. Mastercard does not provide credit or charge interest. They just provide with the payment process technology. For me this source of revenue is halal hence, working on strategies to up-sell credit cards would also be permissible.

  3. and 4) Yes you can work for Mastercard as longer as the role is permissible provided it does not involved dealing with interest or selling/buying haram products. If you have a particular role in mind then send us the description of the role in details so that we can have a look at it inshaAllah.

And Allah knows best!

1 Like