Prepaid cards

Financial firms are going on offense in Washington, pressing a policy agenda that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago. Some proposals, like reforming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, have been floated before while others began to gain traction after Republicans swept the November elections. Here's a look at some of the industry's requests.

Mastercard has partnered with Kenya’s government and several large national banks on the rollout of a chip-and-PIN enabled prepaid card targeting unbanked Kenyan citizens.

Certain cash-strapped consumers expecting a tax refund this year will be waiting longer than usual to get their funds because of a new IRS rule, prompting American Express Co. to expand the channels available to taxpayers looking to get their refund quickly through its Serve prepaid card.

Wirecard Card Solutions is taking over as the issuer of Bread4Scrap, a prepaid card program used by U.K.-based Payment Card Solutions (PCS) to distribute funds to scrap metal dealers.

Green Dot Corp.’s move to buy UniRush, the biggest independent prepaid marketer in a steadily consolidating industry, is the latest sign that remaining stalwarts with reloadable cards will need to look in new directions for growth as acquisition targets dwindle.

The Pasadena, Calif.-based prepaid card issuer expects to gain 750,000 active new cardholders in the deal.

The CFPB several years ago announced plans to introduce formal rules for prepaid cards. Issuers were optimistic, but when the agency finally published its rules, they exceeded 1,600 pages and contained some surprises.

Prepaid-card provider Green Dot Corp. is in talks to buy UniRush, a smaller competitor co-founded by Russell Simmons, the music industry entrepreneur behind rap label Def Jam, according to people familiar with the matter.

Engage Financial Technology, a provider of prepaid card programs for banks, healthcare providers, retailers and other organizations, has partnered with software provider Ensenta for a cloud-based approach to loading funds to prepaid cards.

The wheels are already turning on one of the biggest fleet card portfolio flips in North America, with South Portland, Maine-based WEX Inc. poised to take over in 2018 as the issuer of Chevron and Texaco fleet cards, replacing FleetCor Technologies, which is looking to make up revenue growth elsewhere.

Issuers of prepaid cards often say their products are a good tool for budgeting, but it's rarer to hear merchants market their own branded prepaid cards this way. Walmart is retooling its prepaid strategy to focus on saving in an effort to improve the financial habits of its customers.

President-elect Trump has a number of options to change the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its leadership, but each moves carries at least some risk.

J.G. Wentworth's quirky Broadway-style ads have made it familiar as a structured settlement purchase company, and as it attempts to grab share in the prepaid market it's looking to lottery agencies to make sure its strategy is no gamble.

A round of deregulation could loosen restrictions on emerging payment types and technology.

Prepaid cards are never far from politics and controversy, though the industry's distance from government scrutiny will likely increase in January when Donald Trump assumes the presidency and a new Congress is sworn in.

The once-booming market for reloadable prepaid cards has seen a slowdown in new-account growth in recent years amid heavier competition and consolidation, causing longtime providers to look for ways to stand out in a crowded field.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., delivered a blunt message to fellow Democrats on Monday, warning them not to support efforts to restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against NetSpend on Thursday, alleging that the prepaid card issuer deceived consumers in its advertising.

Green Dot reported net income of $2 million in the third quarter as the prepaid card issuer sought to overcome the revenue it lost by discontinuing one of its most popular products.

Prepaid cards and new mobile innovation in prepaid can bring speed and improve user experience for many different payment types and other financial services.