Prepaid 2012 challenges players to enter the Den
t the annual Prepaid 2012 to be held mid-June in London, a new innovators' showcase called the Prepaid Dragons' Den will allow companies to pitch prepaid card products and programs to judges and event participants. Conference organizer Clarion Events Ltd. said three or four companies will be chosen to pitch solutions to European program managers, retailers, transport operators, local government authorities, banks, mobile network operators, corporations and gambling operators.
Prepaid – it's complicated
Value propositions for various prepaid cards are relatively simple. Some cards offer money management tools for financially strapped families while other cards allow people without access to debit or credit the ability to purchase goods and services online. But, behind the scenes, prepaid is complicated.
Take for example banks. It is ironic that banks are now adopting prepaid card programs to attract the very customers they pushed away to prepaid card providers in the first place. In the 1205A edition of SellingPrepaid E-Magazine, the first article offers insights from the co-founder of MyBankTracker.com into how banks are going about that delicate courtship.
Next, municipalities and mass transit authorities recognize the efficiencies inherent in "open" mass transit payment systems. After all, letting riders pay for fares with the same debit and credit cards they use every day reduces headaches for transit agencies. But the agencies would strand large percentages of their riderships if they didn't include prepaid cards in their mass transit equations. However, prepaid cards add complexity to already complex systems. A report issued by the Philadelphia Fed's payment card center highlighted one problematic but necessary aspect of prepaid for mass transit: customer support.