INDEX / DIRECTORY / MASTERCARD

Mastercard

Payments & Fintech 126 CITED SOURCES UPDATED 2026-09-08 METHOD V6.5
BDS-1000 Score 615 /1000 B Tier B - Severe
Military ↗ 0.00 Digital ↗ 2.57 Economic ↗ 7.00 Political ↗ 3.14
OWNERSHIP TREE 16 brands and group businesses View all

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Key Findings

  • Economic: Mastercard’s current Ramat Gan technology and Dynamic Yield R&D operation drives the economic assessment. A separate 2019 permit approved a 10% SHVA investment; its precise current holding remains unconfirmed.1, 2, 3
  • Digital: Mastercard directly operated the state-tendered FinSec fintech/cybersecurity programme. The reviewed sources do not establish surveillance deployment or Israeli access to Mastercard’s global cardholder data.4, 5, 6
  • Political: Mastercard and Enel X operated the Beersheba FinSec Innovation Lab after a tender involving the Israel Innovation Authority, National Cyber Directorate, and Ministry of Finance; the reviewed sources do not confirm its status after the original three-year period.4
  • Not found: No public evidence identified of Mastercard contracts with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Shin Bet, Mossad, Israel Prison Service, or Border Police, or of Mastercard military, weapons, or settlement-site operations.7, 8

Target Profile

FieldDetail
Company NameMastercard Incorporated
JurisdictionUnited States (Delaware).9
HeadquartersPurchase, New York, United States.9
SectorGlobal payments technology; payment-network infrastructure, card issuance support, and transaction-processing services.9
OwnershipU.S.-domiciled publicly traded company with no parent company or controlling shareholder. Its April 2026 proxy identified Vanguard (8.6%), BlackRock (7.7%), and Mastercard Foundation Asset Management Corporation/Mastercard Foundation (7.4%) as beneficial owners; no holder was listed at or above 10% in that table.10
Key Executives / GovernanceMerit E. Janow, Independent Non-Executive Chair; Michael Miebach, President and Chief Executive Officer. Raisa Sheynberg is identified in Mastercard bylines as Vice President, Government Affairs and Policy; she is not listed in reviewed filings as a corporate officer, named executive officer, Executive Leadership Team member, or Management Committee member.10, 11
Israeli-Nexus SummaryDocumented nexus includes current Ramat Gan R&D and Dynamic Yield operations, a 2019 permit for a 10% SHVA holding, and historical government-tendered FinSec activity. Current SHVA holding and post-term FinSec operation remain unconfirmed.1, 3, 2, 4

Key Facts:

Executive Summary

Mastercard is a U.S.-incorporated global payments technology company with a documented and continuing Israeli commercial and technology footprint. Its governing economic nexus is the continuing Ramat Gan technology hub and Dynamic Yield R&D operation.1, 2 The Bank of Israel separately approved a 10% SHVA holding in 2019; absence of a retrieved divestment record does not confirm the precise current stake.3

Its digital assessment is based on historical direct FinSec operation. Acquired Israeli technology capacity forms additional commercial context. Mastercard acquired Cytegic in 2020 and Israeli-founded AI personalization company Dynamic Yield in 2022. Mastercard’s current Binding Corporate Rules list three Israel-incorporated group entities. Dynamic Yield’s own data-processing documentation describes personalization data, while its separate privacy notice identifies a Ramat Gan address.2, 5, 12, 13, 14 These records establish legal-entity presence and potential intra-group data-transfer pathways; they do not establish actual transfers of Mastercard global payment, biometric, identity, behavioural, or fraud data to Israel, particular Israeli employee access, or Israel-based hosting of those datasets.5

Mastercard also participated with Enel X in the Beersheba FinSec Innovation Lab after a tender involving Israeli civilian state bodies: the Israel Innovation Authority, Israel National Cyber Directorate, and Ministry of Finance. The documented remit concerns fintech and cyber-security applications, including API security, ransomware defence, digital identity, virtual wallets, and fraud prevention. No public evidence identified of military or kinetic applications from that lab, and its continuation after the initial three-year period is unresolved.4

The record does not support allegations of direct military contracting, weapons supply, defence-prime integration, post-acquisition military-data services, Project Nimbus participation, or direct settlement operations. Mastercard is absent from the reviewed OHCHR settlement-business updates and the cited arms-finance reports; those are document-scoped findings rather than proof of no possible indirect commercial connection.7, 8, 15 Mastercard’s network relationship to Israeli issuers whose banks have been profiled for settlement branches is indirect and does not establish Mastercard operational presence in settlements.16 Under the fixed human-vetted V6.5 assessment, the resulting score is BRS 615, Tier B (Severe Complicity).

Timeline of Relevant Events

DateEvent
May 2020Mastercard acquired Israeli cyber-risk-quantification startup Cytegic; the Israel-based team continued under Mastercard’s Data & Services division.12
May 2020Mastercard and Enel X announced their selection to establish and operate a fintech-cyber innovation lab in Israel after a tender involving the Israel Innovation Authority, National Cyber Directorate, and Ministry of Finance.4
21 December 2021Mastercard announced its agreement to acquire Dynamic Yield from McDonald’s.2
April 2022Mastercard completed its acquisition of Dynamic Yield.2
2022SHVA completed a direct technological connection with Mastercard, according to SHVA’s 2024 annual report.17
September 2024Mastercard announced the acquisition of Recorded Future.18
December 2024Mastercard finalized its acquisition of Recorded Future.19
May 2025A publicly circulated Gaza Humanitarian Foundation memorandum listed Mastercard VP Raisa Sheynberg as a GHF board member; this establishes the memorandum’s public contents, not independently verified service, duties, or corporate authorization.20
15 July 2025Mastercard’s updated Binding Corporate Rules listed three Israel-incorporated Mastercard-group entities.5

Corporate Overview

Mastercard conducts business principally through Mastercard International Incorporated and other consolidated subsidiaries as a global payments technology company.9 Its reviewed significant-subsidiary exhibit lists Mastercard International Incorporated, Mastercard Europe SA, Mastercard Technologies, LLC, and Mastercard Middle East Africa FZ-LLC, while expressly omitting subsidiaries not significant in the aggregate; that omission does not establish an absence of smaller Israeli entities.21

The Israeli footprint documented in the audits includes Mastercard Israel Subsidiary Ltd., Finsec Lab Ltd., and Dynamic Yield Ltd. under Mastercard’s Binding Corporate Rules. Mastercard’s office and Dynamic Yield have a documented Ramat Gan technology presence; the separate Beersheba FinSec facility is documented historically, with continuation after its initial term unconfirmed.1, 2, 4 The reviewed sources do not resolve which Israeli entity employs the Ramat Gan workforce, operational control of particular systems, entity-specific directors, or detailed employment and data-access arrangements.5

The 2019 permit for a 10% SHVA stake records a minority investment in Israel’s domestic card-payment infrastructure. SHVA connects issuers, merchant acquirers, merchant terminals, collection and settlement interfaces, and the national interbank ATM switch. SHVA reports no controlling shareholder and stated that no shareholder held more than 10% of its share capital following the 2019 public listing.3, 17 The sources reviewed do not establish Mastercard-specific SHVA board representation, audit rights, transaction-data access, production-system access, or exercise of such rights.17

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of Mastercard contracts, tenders, or memoranda with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, Israel Prison Service, Israel Border Police, Shin Bet, or Mossad.7 No public evidence identified of Mastercard supplying weapons, munitions, military platforms, heavy machinery, logistical base services, dual-use tactical products, export-controlled equipment, or components to Israeli defence primes.7

The closest relevant historical action is not military supply: in 2018 Mastercard, Visa, and American Express reportedly stopped online credit-card donation processing for Al-Haq and other organisations following allegations by advocacy groups of PFLP links. The cited material reports the allegations and restriction; it does not independently establish those alleged links, and the restriction’s current status was not re-verified.22

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Mastercard’s core business is civilian payments infrastructure rather than manufacturing, arms trade, construction equipment, or military logistics. Searches of the cited SIBAT materials and defence-sector sources did not identify Mastercard as a defence or homeland-security supplier.7

Mastercard’s Israeli investments and cyber activities do not themselves establish military integration. The Beersheba lab’s documented focus is civilian fintech and cyber-defence; no public evidence identified of a military or kinetic application.4 These are bounded research findings, not proof that no undisclosed relationship could exist.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

EntityEvidence record
Israeli Ministry of Defence / IDF / Israel Prison Service / Border PoliceNo public evidence identified of Mastercard contracts or supplied services.7
Elbit Systems, IAI, Rafael, IMINo public evidence identified of Mastercard component, subsystem, manufacturing-service, joint-development, or technology-transfer relationships.7
Al-Haq2018 donation-processing restriction is documented as a financial-access action, not evidence of military supply-chain integration.22

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

Mastercard and Enel X directly operated the state-tendered FinSec lab for fintech and cybersecurity proofs of concept. Its documented initial three-year mandate supports a limited historical digital score; no reviewed source establishes deployment into state operational systems or surveillance use.4 Mastercard also acquired Cytegic in 2020 and Dynamic Yield in 2022, and maintains a Ramat Gan R&D presence and three Israel-incorporated entities listed in its BCRs.2, 12, 1, 5

Dynamic Yield documentation describes potential processing of identifiers, IP addresses, browsing and interaction data, customer events, search terms, email addresses, CRM data, and other personal-data categories for personalization services.14 Its privacy notice identifies a Ramat Gan address and describes tailored content, research, analytics, and AI training within that notice’s scope.13 This establishes the platform’s data-processing capabilities, not that particular customer-platform datasets are used for AI training or processed in Israel.

Mastercard also acquired Recorded Future in December 2024.19 Before the acquisition, Recorded Future’s CEO stated that the firm had long provided intelligence to Israel’s National Cyber Directorate. No post-closing source reviewed confirms continued service to that body, and no source identified an Israeli military- or defence-ministry-specific contract.23

SHVA’s 2024 report confirms a direct Mastercard technological connection and an envisaged information-enrichment function for issuer risk-management decisions. It does not show that the function entered operation, identify data fields or controller roles, establish Mastercard receipt of SHVA transaction data, or disclose processing locations and security terms.17

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The bounded digital audit identified no Mastercard-operated Israeli data centre, Project Nimbus participation, or Israeli state/military cloud-sovereignty service. These are audit search findings; the general privacy documents do not themselves prove absence. Mastercard’s Binding Corporate Rules permit regulated intra-group transfers but do not identify actual transfers to Israel, Israeli storage locations, Israeli employee access, or Cytegic-specific processing.5

A Crownpeak subprocessor list identifies Dynamic Yield processing in Germany and Israel for limited troubleshooting, information exchange, licence management, and billing. It does not establish that all Dynamic Yield profiles, Mastercard global-cardholder data, or biometric data are processed in Israel.6 The bounded digital audit identified no Mastercard provision of offensive cyber tools, surveillance systems, autonomous targeting, or predictive-policing capabilities to Israeli security bodies.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

EntityEvidence record
Dynamic Yield Ltd.Acquired by Mastercard; documented Ramat Gan presence and personalization-data processing disclosures.1, 14, 13
CytegicIsraeli cyber-risk startup acquired by Mastercard in 2020.12
Recorded Future / Israel National Cyber DirectoratePre-acquisition reporting describes a long-running INCD customer relationship; post-acquisition continuation is unconfirmed.23
SHVADirect technological connection documented; operational data-access implications remain unresolved.17
Project NimbusNo public evidence identified of Mastercard participation in the bounded digital audit.

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

Mastercard received Bank of Israel approval in April 2019 to hold 10% of SHVA, Israel’s national payment-card switch. No evidence of divestment was identified in the reviewed research, but the stake’s exact current level was not independently refreshed.3 This is a minority-investment nexus; current Ramat Gan R&D independently governs the economic score.

Mastercard’s continuing Israeli R&D footprint includes Dynamic Yield and the Ramat Gan technology operation.1, 2 Cytegic was acquired in 2020.12 The historical FinSec programme was selected under a 2019 public tender and received approximately NIS 13 million for a three-year franchise; its later operation is unconfirmed.4

No Israel-specific Mastercard revenue, profit-repatriation amount, or reliable current employee total was established by the audited record. Economic value from Israeli operating assets would be expected to accrue to the U.S. parent as a matter of ownership structure, but no specific repatriation amount was identified.9

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Mastercard is a payments network, not a goods retailer, importer, or manufacturer. The bounded economic audit identified no Israeli agricultural sourcing, settlement-origin product imports, product-labelling violations, relevant physical-goods supply chains, or construction activity.

Mastercard is not named in the reviewed OHCHR settlement-business database updates, PAX arms-finance report, or Don’t Buy Into Occupation report.8, 15, 24 These absences are document-scoped. The audits do identify indirect network exposure: Bank Hapoalim and Mizrahi Tefahot, Mastercard-network card issuers, have been profiled for branches and ATMs in West Bank settlements. That does not establish Mastercard’s direct operation at those sites.16

Named Entities and Evidence Map

EntityEvidence record
SHVA2019 approval for a 10% holding; precise current holding unconfirmed. SHVA operates national card clearing and switching infrastructure.3, 17
Dynamic YieldWholly owned Mastercard subsidiary with Israeli-founded origins and Ramat Gan presence.2
FinSec Innovation LabHistorical joint Mastercard–Enel X operation under government tender and funding; post-term operation unconfirmed.4
Bank Hapoalim / Mizrahi TefahotSettlement-branch allegations concern the banks; Mastercard linkage is indirect through payment-network relationships.16

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

Mastercard’s FinSec Innovation Lab is a documented partnership arising from a tender involving the Israel Innovation Authority, National Cyber Directorate, and Ministry of Finance. The lab’s launch involved Israeli innovation and cyber officials, while Mastercard presented the project as engagement with the Israeli fintech and payment-security ecosystem.4

Mastercard’s political-communications record includes an explicit March 2022 statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and suspending its Russian network. No public evidence identified of a dedicated, comparably specific Mastercard corporate statement or Israel-operation review regarding the Israel-Gaza conflict, the July 2024 ICJ Advisory Opinion, or the November 2024 ICC arrest warrants.25

In May 2025, a GHF overview memorandum publicly listed Raisa Sheynberg as a board member and described her Mastercard VP title. This does not establish that she acted with Mastercard authority or that Mastercard provided funding, payment processing, technology, logistics, staff secondment, communications support, or other resources to GHF.20 The audited record identifies no public evidence of Sheynberg’s particular GHF duties, votes, attendance, term dates, or operational activity.20

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is that Mastercard’s documented state interaction is civilian fintech and cyber-security cooperation, rather than defence or occupation operations.4 The available GHF evidence identifies an individual employee’s publicly listed association, not a verified corporate role or institutional commitment by Mastercard.20

The bounded political audit identified no Mastercard corporate donations to FIDF, JNF/KKL, reservist funds, settlement organisations, Regavim or Im Tirtzu, and no verified company-specific Israel/Palestine lobbying or PAC connection. These are limits of the reviewed record, not conclusions derived from a single SEC filing. Mastercard’s employee-led relief and fundraising initiatives are not equivalent to a corporate geopolitical statement or corporate donation.26

Named Entities and Evidence Map

EntityEvidence record
Israel Innovation Authority / National Cyber Directorate / Ministry of FinanceCivilian government bodies involved in the FinSec tender and lab.4
Raisa Sheynberg / Gaza Humanitarian FoundationPublicly circulated memorandum lists Sheynberg; corporate authorization and substantive board activity remain unverified.20
UNRWAMastercard’s giving platform hosted UNRWA and other humanitarian-agency donation pages; a shareholder proposal alleged this conflicted with Mastercard policy, and the Board recommended voting against it.27, 28
Al-Haq / SamidounHistorical reports describe donation-processing restrictions; alleged links cited in those reports are not independently established, and current restriction status is unconfirmed.22, 29

BDS-1000 Score

Method: V6.5.

DomainIMPV-Domain Score
Military0.000.000.000.00
Digital4.004.509.002.57
Economic7.007.009.007.00
Political4.005.509.203.14

V_MAX is driven by the current Ramat Gan technology and Dynamic Yield R&D operation. The economic score does not depend on a newly verified SHVA stake or assumed continuing FinSec operation. The lower digital score reflects historical direct FinSec activity; the political score reflects commercial normalization with national visibility, without an established ideological partnership. Together these contribute to the tier, while Military is zero because the audit identified no public evidence of military contracting or supply. This is a scale-free, evidence-only, human-vetted method; the figures above are fixed V6.5 scores.

Methodology Note

Footnotes

  1. Mastercard Israel technology careers: https://careers.mastercard.com/us/en/tel-aviv-israel ; Dynamic Yield company profile: https://www.dynamicyield.com/about-us/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. https://investor.mastercard.com/investor-news/investor-news-details/2022/Mastercard-Strengthens-Consumer-Engagement-Services-With-Close-of-Dynamic-Yield-Acquisition/default.aspx ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  3. https://www.boi.org.il/en/communication-and-publications/press-releases/the-governor-of-the-bank-of-israel-granted-mastercard-inc-a-permit-to-hold-10-percent-of-the-shares-of-shva/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. https://innovationisrael.org.il/en/news/mastercard-and-enel-x-selected-establish-and-operate-fintech-cyber-innovation-lab ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  5. https://www.mastercard.co.uk/content/dam/mccom/global/documents/mastercard-bcrs.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  6. https://www.crownpeak.com/files/governance-center/privacy-hub/crownpeak-sub-processor-list-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2

  7. Bounded military-audit searches included SIBAT directory and defence-sector records; these sources do not independently prove every searched absence. https://caat.org.uk/data/companies/sibat-israel-ministry-of-defense/ ; https://www.sibat.mod.gov.il/industries/directory/documents/sibatdir-hls-en2018-19.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  8. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/un-human-rights-office-updates-database-businesses-involved-israeli ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  9. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141391/000114139126000013/ma-20251231.htm ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  10. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141391/000114139126000021/ma-20260427.htm ↩ ↩2

  11. Mastercard corporate byline, 6 July 2026: https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/news-and-trends/stories/2026/converging-payments-ecosystem-policy.html ↩

  12. https://herzoglaw.co.il/en/news-and-insights/congratulations-to-cytegic-a-cyber-security-start-up-on-its-acquisition-by-mastercard/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  13. https://www.mastercard.com/global/en/dynamic-yield-privacy-policy.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Dynamic Yield service-data categories: https://support.dynamicyield.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023113433-Data-Privacy-Overview ; https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/business/consumer-acquisition-and-engagement/personalization/legal/customer-data-processing-agreement.html ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. https://paxforpeace.nl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/The-Companies-Arming-Israel-and-Their-Financiers-June-2024.pdf ↩ ↩2

  16. Bank-specific profiles reviewed in the digital audit: https://www.whoprofits.org/companies/company/3825 ; https://investigate.afsc.org/company/bank-hapoalim ; https://investigate.afsc.org/company/mizrahi-tefahot-bank ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. https://www.shva.co.il/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Shva.-FS-12.24-FIN.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  18. Mastercard, Recorded Future acquisition announcement: https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2024/september/mastercard-invests-in-continued-defense-of-global-digital-economy-with-acquisition-of-recorded-future.html ↩

  19. Mastercard, Recorded Future acquisition completion: https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2024/december/mastercard-finalizes-acquisition-of-recorded-future.html ↩ ↩2

  20. https://www.passblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Gaza_Humanitarian_Foundation_Overview.pdf ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  21. Mastercard significant-subsidiary exhibit: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141391/000114139126000013/exb21-12312025.htm ↩

  22. https://ngo-monitor.org/visa-mastercard-and-american-express-shut-down-online-credit-card-donations-for-terror-linked-ngos/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  23. https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/10/22/recorded-future-25-billion-cyber-intel-company-defends-america-israel-and-ukraine-its-about-to-be-swallowed-by-mastercard/ ↩ ↩2

  24. Don’t Buy Into Occupation, 2024 report: https://www.cncd.be/IMG/pdf/2024-dont-buy-into-occupation-iv-report.pdf ↩

  25. https://www.mastercard.com/us/en/news-and-trends/press/2022/march/mastercard-statement-on-suspension-of-russian-operations.html ↩

  26. https://newsroom.mastercard.com/news/eemea/en/perspectives/en/2023/being-a-force-for-good-in-the-middle-east/ ↩

  27. https://nationalcenter.org/ncppr/2024/06/18/mastercard-charged-with-maintaining-alliances-with-hamas-supporting-organizations-in-violation-of-human-rights-policy/ ↩

  28. Mastercard 2024 proxy, Board recommendation on shareholder proposal: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141391/000114139124000078/ma-20240426.htm ↩

  29. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/mastercard-visa-amex-all-pull-option-to-fund-terror-group-linked-ngo-613277 ↩