Ahead of Canada FinTech Forum 2026, Mastercard’s Balinder Ahluwalia on local builders shaping future commerce.
We don’t spend much time thinking about the technology behind ordering food through an app, tapping a phone to pay, or using AI to compare products before making a purchase. We simply expect every interaction to be fast, intuitive, and secure. As new technologies reshape commerce, those expectations are only growing.
Balinder Ahluwalia, SVP and group head of market development and digital partnerships at Mastercard in Canada, believes one principle remains unchanged.
“When we talk broadly about the future of commerce, generative AI, and agentic commerce, the customer has to remain at the centre of everything. Ultimately, technology is an enabler,” Ahluwalia said in a recent interview with BetaKit.
That future is closer than we think
Ahluwalia believes Canadian FinTechs are well-positioned to help shape how people shop and pay in this new phase of growth. But building a great product is only part of the challenge. Payments must move reliably, fraud risks must be managed, and growing regulatory requirements must be met, paired with delivering seamless experiences that customers feel confident using every day.
That’s where Mastercard comes in.
While often viewed as the technology powering payments behind the scenes, Ahluwalia says Mastercard’s role increasingly extends beyond the transaction itself. By working alongside startups, the company shares insights on customer needs, security considerations, and the compliance landscape, as founders bring new products to market. Mastercard’s experience in Canada across financial institutions, merchants, FinTechs, and consumers for over 50 years provides a network perspective on what drives adoption and trust.
That kind of co-creation will be part of the conversation at the Canada FinTech Forum, running from Sept. 14 to Sept. 15 in Montréal. There, founders, investors, financial institutions, and policymakers will gather to explore agentic commerce, open finance, cybersecurity, payment modernization, and what those developments mean for customers and companies.
From experimentation to implementation
For Ahluwalia, one of the biggest shifts happening across the ecosystem is the move from exploration to execution.
“We are moving from experimentation to implementation,” said Ahluwalia. “FinTech founders know what kind of experience they want to create for customers. What they need are partners who can help deliver the technology, trust, and infrastructure to make it real.”
Mastercard’s role can vary depending on a company’s stage of growth. Some founders arrive with deep industry experience and a clear idea of which parts of the business they want to own. Others are looking for support from inception through launch, and beyond.
“Co-creation means helping entrepreneurs move faster. We see customer friction points, evolving compliance requirements, and trends emerging across global markets every day. Sharing those insights helps founders stay focused on solving real customer problems while drawing on Mastercard’s technology, network experience, and market perspectives. “
As products scale, trust becomes just as important as innovation. Security, reliability, and transparency help create the confidence customers need to adopt new experiences, which is core to the support Mastercard can help provide to fintechs.
In a sector where people want to know who is handling their money and how it is being protected, that confidence can be a powerful driver of growth.
“Security and compliance actually give customers the confidence to adopt something new,” he said. “The second the trust is gone, they’re not going back.”
Built in Canada, ready for the world
Canadian companies have already shown they have what it takes to become international players. Ahluwalia pointed to Lightspeed, Shopify, and Nuvei as homegrown innovators that have scaled into global market leaders. At the same time, companies including Propel Holdings, KOHO, and Neo Financial are as part of a newer group continuing to grow within the Canadian market.
For Ahluwalia, their success reflects one of Canada’s greatest strengths: products built for one of the world’s most diverse and globally minded markets are often well-positioned to succeed elsewhere.
“Building a FinTech here is a pretty powerful, exportable product,” he said.
The challenge isn’t creating innovative ideas; it’s ensuring those ideas can scale across markets while maintaining trust, compliance, and performance.
“That’s where experienced partners can help founders accelerate growth while remaining focused on their customers,” adds Ahluwalia. “Canadian FinTechs should not start by chasing scale. They should start by solving a real customer problem in a way that reduces friction and builds trust. If they get that right, growth will follow.”
For Ahluwalia, that’s why he remains optimistic about the future of Canadian innovation.
“Canada has the talent, the ambition, and the ideas to drive fintech innovation forward for tomorrow.”
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Feature image courtesy Mastercard.
