324 Million Prepaid Cards In Latin America By 2015, Vendor Says

Latin American consumers will hold more than 324 million general-purpose prepaid cards by 2015, says NovoPayment Inc., a provider of prepaid cards to the region. The company released the results of its study at SourceMedia's third annual Underbanked Financial Service Forum in Miami today. Consumers will have about $215 billion loaded on the cards in 2015, Miami-based NovoPayment says in a statement. The forecast covers 15 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela. NovoPayment says it is basing its estimates on such factors as the size of labor force, poverty rates, wages and banking use. Anabel Perez, NovoPayment CEO, tells CardLine the company provides about 700,000 cards in Venezuela and Peru.