LONDON - A new international trade association, the Prepaid International Forum, aims to focus on the global prepaid-products market.
According to a news release, the group includes members from MasterCard Worldwide, GE Money, JP Morgan Chase & Co., American Express, Sainsbury's, the VA merchant alliance and TSYS.
PIF is the first global association to focus on prepaid commerce, from retailers and providers of voucher services to financial institutions and telecoms.
"Prepaid commerce has the potential to bring modern financial services to the unbanked, unemployed, under-privileged and expatriates; its success will be very important to society, and PIF will help drive that success," said Michael Lafferty, director of PIF.
One of PIF's first tasks will be to address concerns about poor consumer education surrounding the benefits of prepaid products.
"Issues of consumer education and negative press coverage are obvious concerns for the nascent prepaid industry," said Ken Howes, a member of PIF's steering group. "PIF will address these concerns by establishing a dialogue between the prepaid economy and government agencies, regulators, consumer bodies and the media."
The initial focus of PIF will be on the European prepaid industry. A partnership with the United States' Network Branded Prepaid Card Association is expected to ensure that PIF includes U.S. experience in the market.
Why is prepaid commerce important?
- Up to 70 percent of the world's population is unbanked. Prepaid commerce is expected to help unbanked and underbanked consumers take advantage of more financial services, including card payments.
- The growth of prepaid commerce will reduce society's reliance on cash.
- Prepaid will allow governments to achieve vast economies of scale by enabling benefits to be paid electronically.
- Prepaid provides ex-patriots with the opportunity to enter the banking system while still settling in a host country; it also allows them to make remittance payments to family and friends in other countries.
