Q&A: Mastercard’s Basel el-Tell

Today’s smartphones increasingly resemble “mini laptops”, allowing users on-the-go access to the Internet. They are about to get more useful and addictive, becoming wallets as well, allowing users to pay with their mobile phones. Google Wallet, launched in 2011, is an example of a system allowing users to tap their phones for payments. It is still early days and the adoption of phone payments is still nascent. In the Middle East, cash transactions remain the primary means of payment but Basel el-Tell, Levant regional manager  of MasterCard Worldwide, is calling for the region to increase its adoption of electronic payments. While in Beirut, he sat with Executive to discuss the technological changes in electronic payments and their implementation in the Middle East and Lebanon. Have you witnessed a change in consumer patterns during the Arab revolutions? While there is a tendency to save, there has not been a shift in