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ltair Financial Services International PLC said Tuesday that is has helped launch a program that enables migrant workers in the United Kingdom to receive wages via MasterCard-branded prepaid cards. NorthgateArinso, the division of UK-based Northgate Information Solutions that sells software and services that focuses on human resources, will operate the program. It is designed to ensure workers have valid work permits by issuing cards only to employers that check the status of their foreign workers. "This is the first card program of this type Altair has launched," a spokesperson for the United Kingdom-based payments processor and prepaid card provider tells CardLine Global. Altair says the card program should prove less expensive than cash or check payments to workers. UK-based Newcastle Building Society will issue the chip-and-PIN cards. Altair anticipates that UK residents with poor credit ratings also will use the cards.
