MUMBAI: Leading global payments & technology company Mastercard has revamped its logo, a first for the financial services giant in 20 years, according to reports.

The new card logo no longer reads CamelCase; it’s just “Mastercard” now and in some cases “mastercard', as per theverge.com. The logo still has the overlapping red and yellow circles and sans-serif font, but all the elements are finer and sharper.

Knowing that almost 2.3 billion people carry the company’s cards, one would wonder why it needed a change in the first place endangering its 20 year old brand identity.

“This is really one of the most broadly distributed and most widely seen marks in the world,” said Michael Bierut, who designed the new branding with Pentagram partner Luke Hayman in an interview with the media. Between them, the acclaimed designers have revamped identities for everyone from Verizon to New York Magazine to Hillary Clinton.

There is also the question of credibility. Consistent branding is one of the ways in which banks and credit cards build trust with their customers. But as the function that these financial services offer have evolved with time between online payment platform, a digital wallet, and a technology company, suiting the current digitally charged consumers, it is important to have a logo that reflects just that.

“It needs to thrive in a digital space,” Mastercard’s customer experience and design head Cindy Chastain had said on the new change. “It’s simplified. It’s modernized and optimized for relevance in an increasingly digital world.”

In other words, traditional financial companies are now opting for logos that not only look good and trustworthy on banners, billboards and cards, but on laptop screens, smartwatches and of course as app logos as well.