JUDY WOODRUFF: As we reported earlier, President Biden is expected to announce
tomorrow that the U.S. will purchase 500 million more doses of COVID vaccines
that will be donated to the world's poorest countries and the African Union.
This announcement comes as leaders in the private sector are stepping
up their efforts to aid in the pandemic response.
Amna Nawaz explains.
AMNA NAWAZ: In one of the largest private sector donations of its kind,
the MasterCard Foundation announced today they will give $1.3 billion over the next
three years to vaccinate 50 million people on the continent of Africa.
Fewer than 2 percent of the people who live in Africa have gotten a
single dose of the vaccine yet. That's far lower than many of the
wealthiest countries and well below the global average of 11 percent.
Ajay Banga is the executive chairman of MasterCard. And he joins me now.
Ajay, welcome to the "NewsHour." And thank you for making the time.
One-point three billion dollars,
it's one of the largest private gifts in the entire pandemic. Why this much and why now?
AJAY BANGA, Executive Chairman, MasterCard: Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
The -- look, the fact is that this whole pandemic is something that we have all got to put our
shoulder to the wheel at. It's not enough to say that governments will fix it. It's not enough to
say that somebody else will do it or some other company will or some other foundation will.
And so we're all trying to do our best. And there are lots of governments and companies
that are doing their best. And the foundation is an independent
foundation. It was created at our IPO and runs independently. They have our name,
and we are the only donor. And I'm very proud of their CEO and their chair and this decision.
So, basically, the idea is that they work in Africa,
they help to do economic development in Africa, and how can you have economic
development in a continent which hasn't yet got vaccinations for its citizenry?
So the objective here is to kick-start the process with a large enough donation
to get 50 million people vaccinated, but also to build infrastructure and capabilities and training
through the African CDC and the African Union for this to become a real operational opportunity.
AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you about some of
the activity you have taken in Central America, though,
because this is something that's very central to the Biden administration's efforts there.
Vice President Harris is wrapping up a trip to the region. She's there on a mission to try to address
the root causes, causing people to flee in the first place to address
irregular migration. MasterCard has made a commitment to invest in the region.
Why? What do you see as MasterCard's role in this part of the administration's efforts?
AJAY BANGA: So, Amna, I think that no company grows
when the communities around it are not successful and growing.
The same idea applies to the Northern Triangle. When the administration said, we want to find a
way to help people stay where they are, I'm not somebody who can open a manufacturing
factory or an export factory from there. But I can help in the distribution of aid digitally,
and reduce some of the corruption leakage that happens through normal aid distribution.
And that's the idea of saying, we will help five million people come into the financial
mainstream in the Northern Triangle and help a million SMEs get digitally enabled. That's the
starting point of the commitment to the vice president's effort.
AMNA NAWAZ: I want to get your take on where we are right now in the U.S. in terms of the
economic recovery, because, last year, you said you were worried about what people call a K-shaped
recovery, that the inequality gaps that persisted in the pandemic would continue to get wider.
Based on what you have seen so far, are you still worried about that?
AJAY BANGA: Yes, I am.
I will say that I am very optimistic in general about the state of the U.S. economy. I believe
that the package of measures that the system has put into place, from monetary and fiscal policy,
as well as all the things that I see underlying in the economy, are very constructive.
But the problem is, overall, U.S. GDP will do well, but we have got to worry
about those that are getting left behind. And we know that, during the pandemic,
women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses,
women and minorities in jobs suffered disproportionately compared to others.
And we know that the digital divide exists right now.
Just to be clear, the pandemic didn't suddenly create all this.
This is -- it's exposed issues in our society that have existed for a while.
And I think we need to build back better. We need to do this better.
And just in the case of the digital divide, which is where the K-shaped recovery idea comes from,
the digital divide will actually make it worse, right?
If you can't get access to broadband or infrastructure of that type,
whether you're an SME or a student, that's not a great place to be. It's the same for the unequal
spread of vaccinations across the world, between some developed markets and other developing
countries. And that's one of the reasons why the MasterCard Foundation made this commitment.
So it's kind of all intertwined, the idea of, we're in it together. And if you're going
to come out of it, we're going to have to come out of it together. This beast
is going to need your shoulder and my shoulder at the wheel.
AMNA NAWAZ: Well, you mentioned some of those gaps.
The White House will argue that one of the ways to close those gaps is with these big
spending plans they're proposing, like the infrastructure package. And they say,
as part of that, that companies like yours should pay higher taxes to help pay for them.
Do you agree with that?
AJAY BANGA: Yes, well, listen, we benefited when the taxes came down.
We put a lot of the money we got from those tax breaks into our philanthropy,
as well as into our employees for 401(k) matches at a much higher level.
One of the facts that people don't know about us is, if you put in 6 percent into
your 401(k) in our company, we match you 10, meaning you get 16. That's one of the
fewest, one of the rarest examples of that kind of effort. We did that with the tax savings.
If taxes go back up, that's policy. We have got to learn how to live with it and play with it.
My real response here is, it's actually about competitiveness. So, if you need to fix the taxes
at a level that you think makes sense for what the government's revenues should be, go ahead and do
that. Make sure we're all competitive, because global multinationals have got an opportunity
to keep growing and doing good things for the American population and the American system.
But we can't if you're uncompetitive. That's all.
So make it competitive. And we have to carry our share.
I don't have a problem with a tax rate that is higher than where we are today,
so long as I understand and appreciate that it's competitively introduced.
AMNA NAWAZ: There's another key issue I want to get your take on,
which is this string of high-profile cyberattacks that we have seen, these ransomware attacks,
how quickly and dramatically they have brought parts of American life to an absolute standstill.
In the global banking world right now, how secure
are financial services? How worried are you about MasterCard being hacked?
AJAY BANGA: Well, I have been involved with cybersecurity for a while,
both at the company, but also at different presidential commissions.
And I will tell you that I have been making a case that we're only as strong as our weakest link.
Now, MasterCard has been one of those beneficiaries of people trying to get
at us for a long time. And we have built fairly strong processes. And
so have most of the financial services industry.
And now, where we are today, the financial services industry works
very closely across the industry, but also with government. And so I think you will
find that America's financial services industry is in relatively good shape.
But, remember, you're only as strong as your weakest link. So,
think about all the supply chain that interacts with financial services, or any company, for that
matter. If the supply chain is not as strong as it needs to be, you expose yourself to weakness.
So, cybersecurity is a real issue. And no single company can fight off nation-states
or very large organized criminal gangs beyond a point. And so I think we're in this together,
a bit like the pandemic. Cyber is also a pandemic of a different type. And we need to just
put our shoulder to the wheel together across industry, across industry and government.
This is a place where the hackneyed words of public-private partnership
actually mean a great deal.
AMNA NAWAZ: Ajay Banga is the executive chairman of MasterCard.
Thank you so much for your time.
AJAY BANGA: Thank you for having me.