The mobile payments company Obopay Inc. has found a new issuer for the prepaid debit card linked to its services.
Obopay said Wednesday that Bancorp Inc. of Wilmington, Del., has started issuing prepaid debit cards are that linked to its mobile payment accounts. Erin Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Obopay, said it had previously offered similar cards through First Premier Bank, a Sioux Falls, S.D., unit of United National Corp. But that relationship ended in February, she said.
"Obopay wanted to make sure that they were providing the best card out there," Ms. Mitchell said. "They took a little bit of time to investigate different potential relationships and Bancorp was definitely the best option."
The prepaid debit cards linked to Obopay mobile payment accounts run on the MasterCard Inc. network; they can be used at merchant sites and automated teller machines. Card balances can be checked and reloaded with Obopay's mobile software and Web service, or through text messages.
Obopay, a Redwood City, Calif., company, already had partnerships with Citigroup Inc. and Grameen Solutions Ltd. of Bangladesh to offer its mobile payment services domestically and abroad. Obopay also has a partnership with MasterCard, which has said that it is working on a mobile person-to-person payments system for all its issuers, to be introduced early next year.
Bancorp, which offers private-label and prepaid products through its Bancorp Bank, said it has more than 300 national partners for these products.
