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Mastercard Launches On-Demand Decisioning: The Future of Authorization Control?
- Juan Carlos Garavito
- Sep 12
- 2 min read
In a landscape where customer experience and risk management define competitiveness, Mastercard has announced the launch of On-Demand Decisioning (ODD) — a new tool that promises to change the rules of the game in the payments industry.
Officially presented at the RiskX Global Cybersecurity Summit in Rome, ODD will be available worldwide starting October 11, 2025 (except India).
What Is On-Demand Decisioning?
ODD is a platform that allows financial institutions to define their own decision criteria directly within the Mastercard network.
This means a bank can set its own business logic to approve or decline transactions in real time, without relying on slower internal systems.
Powered by a fully customizable rules engine, the tool offers issuers the ability to:
Instantly automate approvals and declines
Refine business policy control
Implement quickly—without complex internal development
Adapt flexibly to urgent, strategic, or compliance needs
As Laura Quevedo, EVP of Fraud and Decision Solutions at Mastercard, explains:
“Security, flexibility, and reliability are fundamental to every digital experience. ODD is a clear example of how we help institutions achieve this with greater agility.”
Benefits in Practice
A practical example comes from Porto Bank, whose CEO, Nelson Aguiar, shared that ODD helped them:
Optimize their authorization strategy
Maintain high-value customer experiences
Reduce operational risks
Implement the solution with minimal effort and maximum consistency
In an industry where competition is driven by speed and personalization, ODD represents a clear competitive advantage.
How Does It Compare to Other Mastercard Solutions?
It’s important to understand where ODD fits among Mastercard’s existing initiatives, such as Decision Intelligence (DI):
Decision Intelligence (DI): Uses artificial intelligence to detect and prevent fraud at the moment of transaction. Its focus is on security and reducing false positives.
On-Demand Decisioning (ODD): Gives issuers direct control, allowing them to define business rules and authorization policies that align with their customer experience strategy.
👉 In other words: DI predicts and protects, while ODD personalizes and decides. Together, they form a robust ecosystem balancing security, flexibility, and operational efficiency.
The Impact on the Financial Ecosystem
In the era of Open Finance, where data sharing and customer experience set the pace, solutions like ODD strengthen financial institutions’ ability to:
Innovate in digital products and services
Offer safer and more personalized experiences
Stand out in a market where trust is everything
Digital transformation is no longer measured by how fast a transaction is processed—but by how well it aligns with the customer’s expectations and needs.
Conclusion
With ODD, Mastercard is not just launching another technological tool—it’s introducing a new way of thinking about transaction authorization: faster, more flexible, and more user-centered.
The combination of ODD and Decision Intelligence opens the door to an ecosystem where security and personalization are not opposites—but allies.
Ultimately, we may be witnessing the emergence of a new standard for digital financial decision-making.
Do you believe this level of control in transaction authorization should become the new norm across the financial ecosystem—or remain a differentiator for the most innovative institutions?
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