U.S. Bank was selected as a finalist in the category of Best Government or Disaster Relief Card Program at an awards dinner presentation of the Prepaid Card Awards on February 27 during the 2007 Prepaid Card Expo in Las Vegas. Created by Prepaid Media, the first annual Prepaid Card Awards recognizes noteworthy professionals, organizations, and programs throughout the prepaid card industry. The U.S. Bank ReliaCard Visa was nominated for this award by Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborne.
“We are very pleased to have our ReliaCard Visa program selected as a finalist in the category of Best Government or Disaster Relief Card Program at the first annual Prepaid Card Awards,” said Chris Jesmer, vice president of government prepaid products at U.S. Bank. “The ReliaCard Visa program lowers overall expenses for state governments by decreasing costs associated with paper checks. We currently have 19 ReliaCard Visa programs being used for a variety of disbursement needs by agencies in 13 states.”
U.S. Bank has been one of Visa’s top three prepaid card issuers for the past five years. The U.S. Bank ReliaCard Visa is a reloadable prepaid card designed to replace costly paper checks in a broad range of recurring government cash disbursement activities such as child support and unemployment insurance benefit payments. The introduction of the ReliaCard Visa in 2001 marked the first time a network-branded prepaid card had been used for government agency disbursements.
“We want to congratulate all the companies that submitted their products, services, and professionals for consideration for the first annual Prepaid Card Awards,” said Jonathan Weiner, president of Prepaid Media. “There are so many companies and individuals developing and offering innovative programs and products in the rapidly evolving prepaid card market, it was difficult to select the very best programs. However, these finalists represent what we believe are the most innovative programs and products with the greatest impact in their respective categories in the past twelve months.”
Prepaid Media provides a host of business-to-business media and information services to the rapidly growing network branded prepaid and stored value card industry. Prepaid Media’s properties include the Paybefore online portal, Paybefore Update electronic newsletter, and Prepaid Card Report (PCR) print publication, the leading information sources for the prepaid and stored value card markets. Prepaid Media also owns and produces the Prepaid Buyers Guide, Prepaid Card Data, and Prepaid Card Awards, all of which are incorporated across its various media properties.
As the prepaid and stored value card industry continues to evolve, Prepaid Media serves as a trusted partner, providing compelling learning, buying and selling, and networking opportunities to key market participants. For more information on Prepaid Media, please visit: www.prepaidmedia.com.
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with $219 billion in assets, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the 6th largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 2,472 banking offices and 4,841 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.
