Mastercard MPQR Partnership, Sponsorship, MTF, and Production Onboarding

Use the links below to move between the SmartGen Mastercard documentation chapters and the live Sandbox Lab. The Lab is for simulated technical testing only; it does not authorize real-money use or live merchant fulfillment.

Mastercard MPQR Partnership, Sponsorship, MTF, and Production Onboarding

The central requirement

Mastercard MPQR is a program for approved participants, not an open public payment API that any developer account can turn into a live acquiring service. Mastercard identifies Receiving Institutions, Originating Institutions, Transaction Originators, and Processors as participant categories. Participants must be licensed by Mastercard or sponsored by a Mastercard-licensed financial institution, registered and approved for the MPQR program, and compliant with applicable regulations including KYC.1

For SmartGen, the most realistic first path is to partner with an approved bank, acquirer, processor, wallet provider, or payment institution. SmartGen can provide the software and orchestration layer while the approved participant provides the regulated payment relationship, merchant onboarding, QR capability, settlement, and program controls.

Two possible partnership models

Model	SmartGen does	Partner does	Difficulty
Software/orchestration partner	Checkout UI, merchant dashboard, order system, API integration, reconciliation tools	Licensed participant status, merchant account, QR issuance, settlement, compliance	Recommended first path
Direct MPQR participant	Payment application or merchant-side service under an approved participant role	Sponsor/financial institution and Mastercard program approval	Requires formal approval and certification

Do not describe SmartGen as a Mastercard acquirer, merchant bank, wallet, originating institution, receiving institution, or licensed payment gateway until the relevant organization formally approves that role.

What to prepare before contacting partners

Prepare a concise partner pack:

Document	Contents
Company profile	SmartGen legal entity, owners, address, website, contact person
Product overview	What SmartGen sells, who pays, countries/currencies, expected volume
Technical architecture	GitHub Pages frontend, Cloudflare Worker backend, secrets, logging, status flow
Security summary	OAuth signing location, data minimization, access control, incident response
Merchant model	Who the merchants are, onboarding process, KYC/KYB plan, settlement model
Customer flow	Static/dynamic QR, payment confirmation, pending/unknown handling
Operations plan	Reconciliation, support, refunds, disputes, monitoring, escalation
Policies	Terms, privacy notice, refund/cancellation policy, acceptable-use policy
Business documents	Trade license, bank account, tax/business registration, identity documents as requested

The exact document list comes from the sponsor, bank, processor, Mastercard, and applicable regulator. Do not assume that a developer account replaces business onboarding.

Partner outreach message

Use a clear message such as:

Subject: SmartGen request for Mastercard Merchant Presented QR sponsorship/onboarding

Hello,

SmartGen is a Bangladesh-based technology business building a secure payment-orchestration platform. We have completed the Mastercard Merchant Presented QR Sandbox Payment API and Retrieval API tests using server-side OAuth 1.0a signing.

We are seeking the correct approved partner/sponsor path for a software platform serving merchants. Please advise:

1. Which MPQR participant or partner model applies to SmartGen.
2. Whether your organization can provide acquiring/receiving-institution or processor sponsorship.
3. Required Mastercard registration forms and business documents.
4. Merchant onboarding and settlement-account requirements.
5. Partner Reference ID and Mastercard Test Facility setup process.
6. Required QR generation, scanning, parsing, verification, and certification steps.
7. Production key activation and go-live requirements.

We will not use the Sandbox fixtures for real funds and will not request Production access until the program and regulatory requirements are approved.

Regards,
SmartGen

Send this through Mastercard’s official Contact Sales/Support route or to an approved institution. Do not send private keys, passwords, Consumer Keys, or full test credentials in the first outreach message.

Mastercard’s Sandbox-to-Production sequence

Mastercard’s published Getting Started flow is:

Create the MPQR Sandbox project and keys.
Test Payment and Retrieval APIs without Mastercard assistance.
Complete the MPQR program registration process and submit the applicable forms.
Request setup in the Mastercard Test Facility (MTF).
Use Sandbox keys in MTF if instructed, or create the approved replacement keys.
Perform attended testing using test cases supplied by Mastercard.
Receive testing acknowledgement after validation.
Agree on a go-live date.
Request Production access in the Mastercard Developers project.
Create or upload the Production key according to Mastercard instructions.
Wait for key activation and Production environment configuration.
Replace Sandbox endpoint, Partner ID, account fixtures, and secrets with approved Production values.
Run controlled Production validation and begin the approved pilot.2

Mastercard Test Facility (MTF)

MTF is the production-like Mastercard test environment. It is not the same as Sandbox and is not real-money Production. Mastercard configures MTF for the approved project and provides test cases.

Before MTF, obtain written confirmation of:

MTF endpoint
Partner Reference ID
key/environment mapping
approved merchant/QR test data
test cases
expected response scenarios
support contact
attendance/certification process

Do not assume the Sandbox partner ID works in MTF. The MPQR documentation states that MTF and Production use the Partner Reference ID supplied after program registration.2

Certification boundaries

The participant’s role determines certification. The MPQR overview states that Originating Institutions and Transaction Originators submit app certification requests for evaluation, while Receiving Institutions complete the MPQR M-TIP certification process for QR conformance and functionality.1

Ask the sponsor which certification path applies to SmartGen’s exact role. If SmartGen only supplies software for a sponsor, the sponsor may own the certification submission while SmartGen supplies technical evidence.

Production key process

When Mastercard approves Production access, follow the project-specific instructions. Generate or upload the Production key, store the private key only in the Production Worker secret manager, and keep the Sandbox key in a separate environment. Wait for activation and configuration before testing.

A safe cutover plan is:

Deploy the Production Worker code without enabling public checkout.
Add Production secrets using the approved secret mechanism.
Verify configuration without printing secrets.
Run a signed non-customer validation only if Mastercard and the sponsor authorize it.
Create one controlled pilot merchant/order.
Reconcile the provider result and settlement report.
Enable the public flow for the pilot.
Monitor, document, and expand gradually.

Partner questions SmartGen must answer

Question	Required answer
Who is the merchant of record?	Legal entity approved by the provider
Who holds customer/merchant funds?	Licensed institution and settlement account
Who owns the QR?	Receiving Institution or approved merchant service
Who initiates the payment?	Approved originating institution or transaction originator
Who performs KYC/KYB?	Defined partner/compliance owner
Who handles refunds?	Contractual provider/merchant responsibility
Who handles disputes?	Defined provider and merchant support path
What is SmartGen’s fee?	Contractually documented, regulator/provider approved where applicable
Where is data stored?	Approved systems with retention and access policy
What happens on UNKNOWN?	Retrieval/reconciliation policy before fulfillment

Mastercard MPQR Partnership, Sponsorship, MTF, and Production Onboarding

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