MasterCard Worldwide announced the first winners of the MasterCard Europe Prepaid Awards, at its inaugural MasterCard Prepaid Conference in Prague. The Prepaid Awards have been established to recognise excellence and innovation in the prepaid card segment of the European payments industry. The four categories for the 2006/7 Prepaid Awards are: Best Newcomer, Best Usage/Expansion Programme, Best Multi-Channel Marketing Programme and Best Cardholder Service.
Chris Reddish, Group Head, Prepaid Product Manager, MasterCard Europe, said: “With spending on prepaid cards in Europe estimated to reach US$164billion by 2010, according to independent research commissioned by MasterCard, there is a real business opportunity for dynamic and innovative companies such as our award winners to flourish in this segment. Consumers are recognizing the added convenience and security of prepaid cards, while Governments and businesses see their broad potential for practices such as paying social benefits to the unbanked or for gifting.” MasterCard Prepaid Award winners: The Best Newcomer 2006/7 was awarded to Altair Financial Services International, which is a global provider of prepaid solutions. As an example of its innovative approach to the prepaid segment, the Altair system is able to store and manage value using mobile phones and a prepaid card can be attached to an account to allow ATM withdrawals.
What the judges said: “Altair Financial is a worthy MasterCard Prepaid Award winner, as it has brought energy and innovation to the prepaid card market through several different prepaid card programmes. Altair has successfully launched a broad portfolio of prepaid cards that bring real user benefits in areas such as travel, money sharing, gifting and payroll.” The Best Usage/Expansion Programme 2006/7 was presented to PrePay Technologies for its 360money Mirror Quidity Card; a secure payment card that allows consumers to load as much money as they wish to spend onto it and use it like any other payment card.
What the judges said: “PrePay Technologies is a much deserved MasterCard Prepaid Award winner for its 360money Mirror Quidity Card. 360money is Britain’s biggest prepay network, and a 360money prepaid card account gives consumers complete control of their finances and the freedom to buy online. It is a great example of a convenient and secure payment solution.” The Best Multi-Channel Marketing Programme 2006/7 was won by Newcastle Building Society, which works with a number of partners specialising in a range of markets for prepaid cards, including shopping centres, travel, sport, lifestyle magazines and employee reward schemes.
What the judges said: “Newcastle Building Society deserves a MasterCard Prepaid Award for its dynamic approach to marketing prepaid cards, including introducing prestigious third party relationships. It issued its millionth prepaid card at the end of last year and this is testament to the company recognising and understanding the opportunities in the prepaid segment at a very early stage.”
The Best Cardholder Service 2006/7 was bestowed upon Advanced Payment Solutions for its CashPlus Gold Card, which launched in the retail sector last year primarily through money services businesses, such as currency exchange bureaus and cheque cashers, and has enjoyed rapid sales growth. As a general-purpose prepaid card, CashPlus is positioned as a solution for the “unbanked” segment of the consumer population. What the judges said: “The Advanced Payment Solutions CashPlus Gold Card is the perfect example of how to provide cardholder service in the prepaid segment, and we are pleased to recognise this with a MasterCard Prepaid Award. With APS’ CashPlus product, people who previously could not get a payment card can enjoy the freedom, flexibility and security that having a MasterCard card provides, including the ability to shop online. The card is supported by a reload network of more than 14,000 sites via the UK Post Office(TM) and around 500 retailers.”
About MasterCard Europe
MasterCard Europe is the entity responsible for managing MasterCard Worldwide’s business in Europe – for Europe. With headquarters in Waterloo, Belgium, MasterCard Europe works with 51 European countries organized administratively into three customer areas, incorporating the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), mature markets and the developing markets of Europe, stretching as far afield as the eastern border of Russia. Through its network of local offices, MasterCard Europe can understand and meet the diverse needs of customers in the very different types of markets throughout Europe, enabling people to do business in their own way in their own language.
Through MasterCard Worldwide, MasterCard Europe offers its European customers and consumers access to leading payment services throughout the world. MasterCard Worldwide advances global commerce by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, businesses, cardholders and merchants worldwide.
As a franchisor, processor and advisor, MasterCard develops and markets payment solutions, processes over 16 billion transactions each year, and provides industry-leading analysis and consulting services to financial institution customers and merchants. Through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus®, MasterCard serves consumers and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, go to www.mastercardworldwide.com.
