APS Financial Ltd achieves MasterCard Principal Member Status
Advanced Payment Solutions (APS), Europe’s leading prepaid card provider, is delighted to announce that APS Financial Ltd, its wholly owned subsidiary, has secured Principal Member status for the issuance of MasterCard®, Maestro® and Cirrus® prepaid cards.
APS Financial Limited (AFL) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and using its Electronic Money License it will be able to pursue prepaid cards and other e-money solutions.
APS’ products, including its Cashplus prepaid MasterCard range, are currently licensed through its bank sponsor relationship with Broadcastle Bank, a MasterCard issuer.
Bringing AFL, its card issuer, within the APS group, will allow APS to eliminate the need for a bank sponsor for the development of its core business driver, prepaid card programmes, and to accelerate its rapid growth in the UK and European prepaid card market.
Business partners and customers will benefit from the integrated AFL and APS management team, with products serviced by the APS team of specialists. AFL, as a member of the APS group, will enable APS to deliver programmes to market more quickly, explore new market sectors and to continue to issue innovative new products.
Commenting on the launch of AFL, Rich Wagner, Chief Executive Officer of APS and its subsidiary AFL, says:
"This development adds considerable weight to APS group’s future growth strategy by reducing external risks such as third party compliance and policy limitations on future product applications.
"It will streamline the process for bringing new products to market and extend the breadth of products able to be developed, giving AFL and APS’ commercial clients greater flexibility than ever seen before in the UK prepaid card market.
"We are grateful for the visionary support of Broadcastle Bank, without which we could not have entered the market. We are excited about the opportunity to accelerate the next stage of our growth. By eliminating reliance on external bank sponsors, whom other prepaid providers use as their only means to issue prepaid card programmes, prepaid card issuing within AFL will be the core business priority created and engineered specifically for filling this need.
"Our new status demonstrably showcases the tight working relationship we have forged with MasterCard since launching the UK’s first prepaid MasterCard card little more than two years ago, and establishes a positive protocol for working together in the future," he says.
Chris Reddish, Group Head, Prepaid Product Manager, MasterCard Europe, adds:
"The business case for direct member access made commercial sense for the development of the prepaid sector. APS has an excellent understanding of the card market and a very high degree of operational skill in terms of risk and compliance management within its in house team."
Along with Rich Wagner, APS Chief Financial Officer Robin Dear is also a Director of AFL. MasterCard International UK Limited is a trustee of all cardholder deposits for products issued by AFL, held at Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ends
- Advanced Payment Solutions: Winner of Best Contact Centre Inbound Campaign at the Connect Awards, London, October 2007
- Advanced Payment Solutions: Winner of Best Prepaid Card Launch at the Annual Cards and Payments Conference, Berlin, May 2007
- Advanced Payment Solutions: Winner of Top Cardholder Services Provider in Europe at the MasterCard Prepaid Card Awards, Prague, May 2007
- Advanced Payment Solutions: Winner of Most Innovative New Product in Retail Banking in the United Kingdom, London, November 2006
About Advanced Payment Solutions
Advanced Payment Solutions was established in early 2004 to become the pre-eminent leader of general purpose prepaid cards and payment solutions in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.
Its senior management team and board of directors have unparalleled experience in the prepaid and payment industries, bringing together experience from Barclaycard, VISA, Bank of America, Netspend, Western Union, Diners Club and Citibank.
The company, backed by leading US private equity and venture capital firm Trident Capital, aims to lead UK prepay market growth to emulate the success of prepaid payment cards in the US where prepaid cards now make up a trillion dollar market.
APS' first prepaid payment card, the Cashplus prepaid MasterCard, launched in September 2005, is the UK's first general purpose prepaid chip and PIN payment card. Cardholders can top-up their prepaid MasterCard card at over 20,000 outlets throughout the UK. Alongside developing its Cashplus product portfolio, APS provides a suite of services for businesses wanting to offer branded prepaid products to their customers.
Consumer website: www.mycashplus.co.uk
Corporate website: www.apsgroup.com
For further information, please contact:
mediaenquiries@apsgroup.com
T: 0207 100 5850
Cashplus is issued by APS Financial Ltd or Broadcastle Bank Ltd, which are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (www.fsa.gov.uk/register)
Cashplus is serviced by Advanced Payment Solutions Ltd which is a registered agent of Broadcastle Bank Ltd & APS Financial Ltd for this purpose.
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