Backbase, a provider of AI-native banking software, has entered into a strategic collaboration with payments giant Mastercard to embed “Mastercard Move,” Mastercard’s suite of global money movement capabilities, directly into the Backbase AI-native banking OS.
As per Backbase, the integration is intended to accelerate the adoption of near real-time cross-border payments among financial institutions, which will allow banks to offer international payment solutions more quickly while facing less implementation complexity.
The collaboration will be looking to deliver pre-built connectors, removing the need for custom integration work, while supporting complete payment flow management from initial customer transaction through settlement and reconciliation. The initiative will initially target banks operating in the European Union (EU) and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.
“For financial institutions, the partnership offers a range of practical advantages, including reduced implementation timelines, faster routes to revenue through a pre-certified integration, and an architecture designed to support multiple payout options and currencies,” Backbase said.
Talking about Backbase’s AI-native Banking OS, it has a sort of “Unified Frontline,” an operating model for AI-native financial institutions, where customers, employees, and AI agents collaborate as one—across digital channels, front office, and operations.
AI-native Banking OS, launched in April 2026, addresses one of the financial sector’s most persistent structural challenges: fragmentation. Based on insights from more than 120 deployments, Backbase estimates that roughly 80% of frontline banking work happens in the whitespace between systems—the handoffs, coordination, and exceptions no single application owns. It’s the same work banks now want to hand to AI agents. By launching the Banking OS, Backbase has brought forward an AI-powered mechanism that sits above a bank’s existing systems, cores, payments, cards, risk, and CRM without replacing them.
It understands the customer in one shared view, coordinates the work across every system, authorizes every action, and optimizes the functions continuously, learning from interactions, signals, and outcomes.
The pre-built Backbase connector to Mastercard Move has now been made available to the AI-native banking software’s customers, supported by structured planning, technical assessment, and delivery guidance.
Backbase global vice president and head of ecosystem partnerships Mayank Somaiya said, “The Backbase Ecosystem extends the AI-native Banking OS with best-of-breed capabilities across payments, fraud management, open banking, dispute management, and end-to-end banking services. With Mastercard Move accessible directly through the Banking OS, banks can deliver trusted international payments within the same digital journeys their customers already use—competing with digital-first and non-traditional players on experience, pricing, transparency, and speed.”
Mastercard global head of transfer solutions Pratik Khowala commented, “By making Mastercard Move available through the Backbase AI-native banking OS, we’re accelerating banks’ ability to bring cross-border services to market. This collaboration helps financial institutions deploy trusted, transparent international payments faster and with far less complexity.”