MasterCard has joined forces with Brazilian
bank Banco PanAmericano and payment solutions provider Rev
Worldwide to launch the country’s first general purpose reloadable
prepaid card – the PanAmericano MasterCard Prepaid Card.
The product is said to offer an affordable
cash alternative to Brazil’s estimated 75m unbanked population as
there is no proof of income or credit check required.
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Customers who buy and load cash on the card
can make purchases online and at the point-of-sale anywhere in
Brazil or abroad where MasterCard is accepted, withdraw cash from
ATMs worldwide, transfer funds between card accounts and use the
integrated mobile features to check balances and confirm
transactions from their mobile phones via text message.
“Besides facilitating purchases, including
online, prepaid cards help consumers manage expenses and safeguard
their funds – the card is protected by a password and, in the case
of loss or theft, the cardholder can lock the card’s remaining
balance to prevent unauthorised spending,” said Eliel Teixeira de
Almeida, Banco PanAmericano’s director of card products.
This is one of the first MasterCard launches
in the prepaid segment in Brazil and Marcelo Tangioni, vice
president of products at MasterCard, claims the government,
corporate and retail segments are all opportunities that will be
explored in the Brazilian market over the coming years.
“The launch with PanAmericano represents a
strategic move for MasterCard since the prepaid card is an ideal
instrument for financial inclusion that allows unbanked consumers
to access the electronic payments network,” said Tangioni.
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By GlobalDataHe goes on to say that this is the right time
to introduce the card, claiming the Latin American prepaid market
to be in “full swing” – citing a £12bn market opportunity which is
forecasted to reach up to $80bn by 2017.
Other research sources back up Tangioni’s
claim. According to IPEA, an economic think-tank in Brazil, 40% of
Brazilians do not use banking services and figures from the
Brazilian Central Bank show 55% of Brazilian employees are paid in
cash.
