Press Release 6

14 June 2010

Prepaid is the way forward

Access to flexible and transparent payment products is crucial

Prepaid is proving to be Visa Europe’s fastest growing product category with 15 million cards already in use across Europe. Fiona Duncan, Head of Prepaid Cards, Visa Europe said: “This is a figure we expect to see rise, we’re really excited about the growing demand we’re seeing for prepaid.”

According to Fiona Duncan, Visa Europe sees prepaid as an excellent product from which to innovate. “The combination of prepaid and new technologies such as contactless and mobile demonstrates how innovation in the way we pay helps us to support the evolving needs of society. Especially in an age of increasing financial austerity, the need to have access to flexible and transparent payment products is absolutely crucial for consumers, businesses and governments alike.”

02:  clear customer insight
James Day, who is 02’s Head of 02 Money Marketing agrees that customers’ needs have driven the development of prepaid. “The success of the O2 Money cards has been driven by the clear customer insight that people wanted more help managing their money. Not only did the cards help meet that need, they also brought a fresh approach to the prepaid market with no fees or high costs. We look forward to building on the success of our first two financial products and taking further advantage of the increasing synergies between mobile and money.”

Visa and 02 are just two of the companies that will share their success strategies at the Prepaid 2010 conference that is taking place in London from 15 to 16 June.

Retailers and public services
New innovations and groundbreaking technologies will furthermore be unpacked at Prepaid 2010 when successful retailers and public services offering prepaid, loyalty programmes and gift card payment schemes get together. Prepaid industry pioneers who will be at what is the UK’s only and Europe’s largest industry gathering include Mastercard, Visa Europe, Barclaycard, 02, Target, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Nokia, PrePay Solutions and Transport for London.

Some highlights from the programme:

• Choosing the right approach: closed and open loops - what’s the best approach?
  Fiona Duncan, Head of Prepaid Centre of Excellence, Visa Europe
• The 02 Money Card:  the award-winning marketing strategy of bringing together mobile and wallet
  James Day, Head of 02 Money Marketing, 02
• Contactless payments and how it is becoming the future of low value transactions
  Lewis Nolan, VP Business Development, Visa payWave
• Prepaid comes of age: prepaid as everyday money
  Matt Lanford, Senior Business Leader, Prepaid Europe, MasterCard Worldwide
• Panel discussion: Analyzing different prepaid channels for successful corporate schemes
  Panelists include high-level representatives from Marks & Spencer, WH Smith, John Lewis, B&Q and Sainsbury’s
• Subway’s gift and loyalty programme: What we can learn from the US gift market
  Carman Wenkoff, Director of Electronic Card Services and President of Value Pay Services, Subway
• BarclayCard’s new corporate strategy:  making prepaid part of your commercial agenda
  Jim Wadsworth, Head of Prepaid, BarclayCard

Success stories:

• The next generation oyster card
  Peter Lewis, Head of Oyster, Transport for London
• The award-winning Croydon e-Pay cashless schools project
  Allyson Lloyd, Corporate Catering, Manager, Croydon Council
  Marianne Lewis, Programme, Manager, Croydon Council
• The Pizza Express gift card as part of the company’s long-term customer loyalty strategy
  Rebecca Farrer, Head of Brand Activation, Pizza Express
• WIZZIT, a South African mobile money banking provider allows customers to make payments and transfers
  Brian Richardson, CEO, WIZZIT

The event website:  www.prepaid-conference.com

For more information on media accreditation or organise interviews with speakers, please contact:
Communications Manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Email:  annemarie.roodbol@clarionevents.com
Phone:  +27 21 700 3500 EXT: 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844 (International)
Fax: +27 21 700 3501 (International)

Onsite contact during the event: Swarnjit Dhillon +44 (0) 7980 199 509

Event dates and location:
15-16 June 2010 at The Brewery in London.
14 June is a pre-conference workshop day.

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