Network Branded Prepaid: An Update
Report Summary
Network Branded Prepaid: An Update
The prepaid industry can avoid many challenges, chief among them regulatory pressure, by implementing precautionary measures.
Boston, April 7, 2011 – A new report from Aite Group provides an overview of the U.S. network branded prepaid card market. Based on March 2011 Aite Group interviews with 24 senior-level, prepaid-industry stakeholders, the report reviews challenges faced by the prepaid industry. It also provides survey respondents’ ratings of players in the prepaid ecosystem, including reload networks, processors, issuing banks, program managers, and card networks.
The network branded prepaid industry currently faces many challenges, chief among them regulatory pressure. Mounting pressure from consumer advocacy groups is pushing legislators to examine the industry and pass sweeping reforms that could curtail revenue for industry players. Survey respondents ranked regulatory pressure as the industry’s current leading concern, followed closely by the related issues of market awareness, and consumer advocacy groups and the media. Regulation by the government or consumer protection agencies would further exacerbate challenges, leading to a loss of industry innovation and decreased value to product end users.
“The prepaid industry is under by-and-large unfair scrutiny,” says Adil Moussa, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. “Prepaid players should urgently inspect their industry and self-police in order to avoid interference from the government and consumer-advocacy groups.”
The report provides peer reviews and ratings of players within the prepaid ecosystem, including AccountNow, ADP, American Express, Blackhawk Network, Comdata, Discover, Elan (U.S. Bank), Fifth Third, First Data, FIS, FSV, Galileo Processing, Global Cash, Green Dot, H&R Block, i2c, InComm, MasterCard, MoneyGram, MyPlash, Netspend, Plastyc, PreCash, Rapid Paycard, TransCard, TSYS, TxVia, Visa, and Western Union.
This 19-page Impact Note contains 10 figures and one table. Clients of Aite Group's Retail Banking service can download the report.