Visa and i2c Form Alliance to Bring Better Prepaid Solutions to Global Markets

Issuers and partners in Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa to benefit from new prepaid processing options

Singapore, November 20, 2013 – Visa has announced a strategic alliance with global prepaid processor i2c, Inc., affirming its commitment to the growing prepaid market in Asia-Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East & Africa (APCEMEA).

As part of the alliance, Visa and i2c will support the demand for prepaid cards in the region with a focus on a wide-range of product offerings, such as Government Disbursement and Virtual prepaid. The global growth in the prepaid market is forecasted to rise by 44 percent in the next five years, between 2013 and 2018*.

“Demand for prepaid cards is increasing across APCEMEA, which includes some of the world’s fastest growing regions. To make sure Visa can quickly respond to issuer and partner’s needs, we are delighted to announce a strategic alliance with i2c that will improve prepaid processing options to cardholders throughout the region,” said Stacey Pinkerd, Head of Products – Asia-Pacific, at Visa.

“Alliance partners such as i2c will play a significant role in the expansion of the prepaid category by providing prepaid issuers and partners with leading technology solutions that support functionality required by both consumers and corporates across the entire region,” Pinkerd added.

i2c’s best-in-class, flexible prepaid processing platform will allow Visa prepaid issuers and partners to develop and manage the full suite of prepaid products throughout the region. i2c, a global prepaid processor that supports programs in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa, is committed to expanding in the APCEMEA region to provide Visa issuers and partners with robust, end-to-end prepaid processing solutions.

Amir Wain, Chief Executive Officer, at i2c comments, “i2c’s One World, One Platform strategy is to help issuers of prepaid and emerging financial products get to market quickly anywhere in the world using just one processing platform globally. Our alliance with Visa, one of the most respected and trusted brands in financial services, is an important development in the execution of this strategy. We are excited to get to work in partnership with Visa to help financial institutions and companies in the APCEMEA region launch differentiated, profitable prepaid programs.”

With the i2c alliance, Visa will be better able to expand its reach into new prepaid markets and provide issuers and partners with the newest payment technology and best-in-class options in all markets across APCEMEA.

i2c is a provider of traditional, mobile and emerging payment processing solutions to blue chip clients worldwide, and already works with some of Visa’s prepaid issuers and partners in more than 10 markets.

* ABI Research, “Pre-paid Cards: Open & Closed Loop Solutions for Government, Retail, Corporate & the Unbanked” May 2013, http://www.abiresearch.com/press/government-and-enterprise-adoption-driving-44-ship

About Visa

Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world’s most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 30,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa’s innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit corporate.visa.com.

About i2c

From its Silicon Valley headquarters, i2c provides the infrastructure financial institutions, corporations, brands and governments around the world need to launch and profitably manage payment and next-generation commerce products. i2c’s global, cloud-based platform supports virtually any prepaid, debit or credit program in plastic, virtual or mobile form. Clients on six continents use the i2c platform to build profitable, differentiated payment products and services that meet unique customer needs. For more information go to www.i2cinc.com.

Media Inquiries:

Melissa Telli
i2c, Inc.
+1 650-593-5400
E-mail: marketing@i2cinc.com