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To advance its product development and global expansion, London-based Travelex Group is expanding its brand relationship with MasterCard Worldwide, the companies have announced. Travelex distributes foreign-currency reloadable prepaid cards that offer consumers and corporations a locked-in foreign-exchange rate. As part of the agreement, Travelex will launch new prepaid products using MasterCard's back-end processing suite of services, Integrated Processing Solutions. Travelex is the first prepaid provider to use the platform, Laura Kelly, MasterCard senior vice president of global prepaid solutions, tells CardLine Global sister publication ATM&Debit News. The platform was developed in 2008 to "service a debit-scale type opportunity and, as a part of that, we also integrated prepaid capabilities because we recognized our issuers and partners like Travelex will need robust prepaid capabilities as you look into the future" of prepaid, Kelly says. Travelex will continue to have relationships with China UnionPay and Visa Inc., but its brand preference will be MasterCard, says Vanessa Murden, Travelex head of global product development. Travelex expects to convert existing programs to MasterCard starting next year. MasterCard Advisors, a consulting arm of MasterCard, will assist Travelex with the transition, Murden says. As the first prepaid provider to use Integrated Processing, Travelex will help MasterCard shape the platform's back-end processing for prepaid cards, Kelly says. "And that was something that was very attractive to Travelex," Murden says. "During the transition phase, we have the ability to work with [the product] to really shape the product that is going to give us that change in the marketplace."
