The popular financial services company Mastercard and the tech giant Microsoft are forming a partnership. The future will witness them working together to push innovation in cloud technology for the purpose of digital commerce. The amalgamation of technical expertise and cutting-edge technologies will allow the partners to further build and secure new solutions.

“We are thrilled to deepen our longstanding relationship with Microsoft by advancing the research, development and scaling of new technologies and business models,” said Ken Moore, Executive Vice President and Head of Mastercard Labs. “This strategic collaboration will strengthen and extend our cloud services and capabilities for clients and fintech partners, sparking innovation and creativity for the ecosystem. It will enable us to explore opportunities focused on new client segments, technologies and trends as we continue to drive financial inclusion and build the future of commerce,” he added.

Both partners will leverage Azure technologies, Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Internet of Things (IoT) to ultimately create a new user experience for customers, businesses, and government. In addition to it, Mastercard’s Start Path Program has been supportive of the development of over 230 fintech companies across the globe as it made financial services available for later stages and growing start-ups.

Both the companies will emphasize on creation of digital identities as it gets universal recognition. It will facilitate interaction with businesses, service providers, and the wider online community. “Digital identity is a cornerstone of how people live, work and play every day,” said Joy Chik, Corporate Vice President of Identity at Microsoft. The benefits listed by the companies are fraud detection and identity verification. The estimated reach of digital identity will be one billion people across the world who hold no identity on digital platforms.

“Mastercard’s commitment to innovation and financial inclusion has accelerated digital commerce for individuals and businesses around the world,” said Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President of Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business. “We look forward to building on our strong relationship and accelerating co-innovation to help connect and power a digital economy for everyone, everywhere,” he added.

Both the companies have not disclosed the financial terms of the deal.