R. Jesse McWaters

Global Head of Regulatory Advocacy, Mastercard

Jesse McWaters leads Mastercard’s global regulatory advocacy function, where he is responsible directing the company’s public sector engagement on a wide range of emerging regulatory and policy issues. Jesse is particularly passionate about driving public/private collaboration frontier of financial innovation – including crypto-assets, central bank digital currencies, AI, 5G, and open banking.

Prior to joining Mastercard, Jesse served as Head of Financial Technology & Innovation at the World Economic Forum where he founded the ‘Future of Financial Services’ series, a collection of research initiatives convening financial executives, fintech founders, and global policy-makers to understand how new technologies are reshaping financial services. Prior to that, served as a financial services strategy consultant at Deloitte, supporting large-scale technology transformations and the roll-out of new business models for leading banks, insurers, and wealth managers.

Jesse is the author of numerous publications on fintech and is a frequent media commentator. He has been featured on CNBC’s Closing Bell, and quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Wired, American Banker, and Bloomberg. He has presented his insights to an array of policy makers including the Financial Stability Board, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England, the People’s Bank of China, the Federal Reserve Board, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, and the European Parliament.