Approximately 1 million people live with dementia in the UK. 9/10 of those people struggle to manage their finances. This is a hard reality that not only impacts their financial security, but also diminishes their ability to control how they live out their lives.

In fact, caregivers often end up taking away access to their loved ones’ money. And by doing so, they limit their social activity, accelerating the onset of the disease.

Our goal was to balance both the needs and realities of living with dementia, while giving the families a concrete way to assert control and offering people living with dementia a level of financial independence - something that has been shown to slow down the progression of the disease.

Mastercard introduces Sibstar - the first debit card designed to help people living with dementia maintain their financial independence through features that adapt and evolve as their disease progresses.

With Sibstar and its companion app, caregivers of people living with dementia can adapt the debit card to meet the changing needs of their loved ones as the disease progresses, ensuring both financial protection and independence.

For the first time in the category, carers do not require legal power of attorney in order to jointly monitor and provide or restrict access to the finances of people living with dementia.

Mastercard has a long history of Doing Well by Doing Good. Financial inclusion is the centerpoint of that focus, resulting in products like True Name (which transformed the banking system to allow transgender people the ability to use their chosen name on cards), Touch Card (creating greater accessibility for those sight impaired), and now Sibstar.

In order to bring products like this to the people who need them most, Mastercard and Sibstar had to partner to ensure both the app and card worked hand in hand to manage the numerous challenges and situations that may come into play for those living with dementia.

We partnered with Alzheimer’s Society to better understand the nuances of life with dementia, and leveraged Mastercard’s comprehensive suite of network services to create an innovative solution, both from a technology and legal perspective, that addressed the unique need of people living with dementia.

Supported by Alzheimer's Society UK, Sibstar took inspiration from children's debit cards, which offer parental control tools designed for responsible spending, teaching kids financial independence. Sibstar leverages the same principles but was designed to adapt continuously to someone’s condition in order to extend their financial independence.

Sibstar connects to Mastercard’s payment rails and allows caregivers to monitor any purchases in real time, their location, set up personalized spending limits for different channels (online, retail, cash withdrawal, contactless) and turn features on and off, allowing a person living with dementia to continue living their life with dignity.

Mastercard’s fraud protection features keep Sibstar users safe during every transaction by running every purchase through proprietary technology that decides in milliseconds if a transaction is legitimate or not.

For the first time in banking, all this is possible without caregivers needing legal power of attorney to manage their loved ones’ finances.

Before Sibstar, banks offered limited services to help customers with dementia. Caregivers had to go through complicated legal processes in order to start managing the finances of their loved ones.

Stigma, discrimination and social isolation, which can accelerate the progression of the disease, all increase when those living with dementia become dependent on others to manage their finances.

Sibstar extends the autonomy of those living with dementia and reduces the burden on their caregivers.

For the more than 900,000 families dealing with and living with dementia in the UK, a product that can reduce the emotional and practical strain of supporting their loved one is a/will be a welcome respite. However this is nothing compared to the possibility of reducing the progression of a disease through maintained connection to community and continuous financial inclusion.