Gibraltar-based prepaid card issuer becomes Visa Europe principal member

Visa Europe has certified Transact Network, the Gibraltar-based prepaid card-issuer, as a principal member, meaning Transact can provide its own payment services and acquire merchant transactions.

"We are thrilled to become a principal member of Visa Europe," Tobias Schreyer, Transact Network's managing director, said today in a statement. "The decision is a ringing endorsement of the proprietary prepaid systems that Transact Network has developed over the past few years."

Transact Network issues Visa and MasterCard physical and virtual cards. The company is the first Gibraltar-based prepaid card issuer to become a principal member of Visa Europe, Schreyer said.

Visa Europe, which is based in London, is owned and operated by 4,147 European banks and financial institutions. They issued more than 390 million Visa debit, credit and commercial cards for the 12-month period, ending Dec. 31, 2009.