McHenry, who serves as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, spoke Tuesday at a half-day summit in Washington, D.C., hosted by Punchbowl News and Mastercard. The event delved into the many benefits of digital payments as well as ways to support innovation and inclusion in financial services. One of the biggest benefits of a flourishing digital payments industry is its ability to expand financial inclusion, said Linda Kirkpatrick, Mastercard’s president for the Americas region. That’s the concept of bringing more people into the formal financial system, thereby expanding their opportunities and boosting their prosperity. “Financial inclusion is not only the right thing to do for us,” Kirkpatrick said. “It's also good for our business.” She added that Mastercard continually invests in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and new payment technologies to empower and protect small businesses and people coming into the digital economy for the first time.