Mastercard is introducing a virtual chief financial officer (CFO), which will be the first of a suit of artificial intelligence (AI) executives aimed at SME businesses. Virtual chief marketing officers and virtual chief security officers will follow.
AI has so far automated roles which perform repetitive tasks in businesses, and MasterCard’s Virtual C-Suite aims to offer executive-level decision-making and insight to smaller organisations. This type of capability is normally only found at large organisations with executive teams, but AI can bring some of the capabilities to smaller businesses.
The Mastercard offering will move beyond support for financial decision-making, as the card giant plans to introduce other AI-powered executive functions which small businesses often lack, such as marketing and security.
The Virtual C-Suite is an extension of Mastercard’s Agent Suite. The AI executives will be built using insights from the billions of transactions processed on the card firm’s network each year, combined with a business’ individual financial activity. Human executives will be able to ask the AI executives direct questions.
Christopher Miller, lead analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, said: “Agents that offer big picture insights combined with unique and local analysis are becoming a critical human augmentation tool. Insights at this level have been available to large enterprises for years, and agentic AI creates the opportunity for smaller organisations to benefit moving forward.”
The software integrates AI-powered intelligence to the accounting systems, business software and banking applications already used by small businesses. It will analyse the business performance and make predictions and recommendations.
According to the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC), 35% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are actively using AI technology, which was up from 25% in 2024. More than 1,500 business leaders were surveyed online by the BCC’s Insights Unit in June and July last year.
But the survey found that only 11% of SMEs are using technology to a great extent to automate or streamline operations, while 42% said they are using it to some extent, 29% to a minimal extent, and 14% not at all.
When the survey was published in September, Shevaun Haviland, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “Our data shows more SMEs are plugging into AI – and that’s really encouraging news for the UK’s economic future.
“The pace of technological change is speeding up, not slowing down, and it’s crucial that all businesses are part of the digital revolution. Our survey shows the picture is not equal across all sectors and firms aren’t yet using the technology to its full potential.”
Commenting on the BCC survey, Department for Business and Trade minister Blair McDougall said: “Often the discussion about AI focuses on huge multinationals, but this shows that the smaller businesses, who contribute so much to our economy, are a central part of the AI innovation story too.
“AI transformation is a crucial part of our mission to kickstart economic growth. We will continue to back businesses through our Plan for Change to improve productivity, boost competitiveness and drive prosperity across the UK.”
