UK Prepaid Club Agenda – 23.02.12

I encountered Tony in a bullish mood on the Eurostar train to Paris this week. He was heading out to speak to the thriving prepaid community there, set up by Philippe Bertinchamps in 2011, called Prepaid Exchange France. Here are the notes from our conversation – honest, passionate, and full of clues about the success of Global Prepaid Exchange.

Dan Stretton: So what is the purpose of this trip?

Tony Craddock: I’ve been invited to share my perspective with members of Prepaid Exchange France on the reasons why our communities work and what our ambitions are for the future.

Dan: Can you give me some background on how the community started in France?

Tony: Two years ago, I was introduced to a legend; he was someone with over 30 years experience in prepaid, who had risen to the top of one of the largest and most profitable companies in the industry. I had never been able to reach him before. And why did he see me now? I think Mr Bertinchamps saw me for one reason: I chose to meet him at a rather fine restaurant.

I shared my vision of having a network of interconnected communities around the world, each individually helping local companies to grow their prepaid business, but operating under a global umbrella.

I shared my personal experience of working with organisations in the gift and prepaid industry around the world since 2004. I explained the theory of two-sided markets, where buyers and sellers come together to exchange value – to learn, to do business, to be stimulated, to have fun.

And I shared my belief that each local community, or exchange, had to be adapted to being done the local way. And then I shut up and listened. Soon, he had a come up with a plan.

First, he found his secret weapon. Anne de Villandry-Kerzan. And second, they worked together for a year.

What we have today is the result of that hard work. A community of like-minded individuals with a common interest. A programme of 11 events containing the highest quality content. Research on the local market to spread understanding and educate stakeholders. 50 companies involved in Prepaid Exchange France, over 25 from France itself. Focussing on French issues, in French. It is a wonderful achievement and one that we can all be proud of.

Dan: You always come across as having a passion for prepaid and the community you run. Tell me more.

Tony: Let me share a personal story with you. Other than my family, and a few friends and colleagues, nobody else knows about this. This time next week I will be in hospital. I am having an operation on my heart. The operation is to treat something that is sometimes called, Racing Heart. The condition means that sometimes, my heart beats much too fast, even when I am resting.

When I told Georgina Grogan, our wonderful account manager in London, about this, she asked me what had caused the problem. I explained it was probably caused by too much endurance sport – cycling long distances up Alpine mountains on Cyclosportives is my hobby. But she disagreed. She said it was because I was so excited about prepaid, it made my heart race. And that is true. I am excited about prepaid. And I have decided that my purpose in life is to help make prepaid happen to improve lives everywhere.

Dan: Can you tell me what you mean by this?

Tony: How prepaid improves lives? Okay, let me give you some examples. My mother was not good at buying presents. Ten years ago she bought me a plastic Christmas tree to go on the lunch table. I had to sit looking at her through plastic green leaves covered with white snow. Nice!

The next year, when she bought me a Tumi gift voucher, I used it to buy my briefcase there. My mother is dead but my briefcase is not. The gift voucher improved my life and my mother’s, because she had made her son happy.

In Kenya in 2003, a company affiliated to Vodafone called Safaricom launched a simple programme that allows people to send each other money via the mobile phone. It is called M-PESA (Pesa is ‘money’ in Swahili). Now, it has over 14 million subscribers. And it has allowed people to spend more time making money and less time carrying it around in brown bags fearful for their lives. Prepaid improves lives for people in Kenya.

In France, our members such as Edenred and Sodexo, enable millions of French people to have a free lunch, courtesy of their employers. Here in France, that is very important. So prepaid improves the lives of millions of French people, every day.

In the UK, our member Ukash distributes more than €100m of e-vouchers each year that allow people to spend cash on the Internet. There are millions of people who feel more secure, and possibly more anonymous, because of Ukash’s prepaid programme.

So can you see how prepaid improves lives? With 7 billion people in the world, 5 billion mobile phones, and hundreds of billions of financial transactions each year, can you see that prepaid has a chance to improve the lives of many of them? Do you have any doubt that prepaid has an exciting future? I don’t.

Dan: But doesn’t that sound a little altruistic? Is there room for that in today’s tough economic climate?

Tony: Well, this fluffy stuff is all very interesting, you may say, but I have a job to do. My business partner in the US, professor Dan Horne, said to me, “Tony, this mission statement of yours, to make prepaid happen to improve lives everywhere, will not go down well in the US. People there just want to MAKE MORE MONEY.”

So I said, ‘If our members are successful in prepaid they will MAKE MUCH MORE MONEY’. That satisfied him. We can even say that in America, prepaid improves people’s lives – at the very least, the lives of our members.

I really hope that our members can relate to this message. For sure, they will make more money out of their membership, such as of Prepaid Exchange France. But with innovation, passion and by embracing our principles of integrity, quality and collaboration, you can help to improve lives everywhere as well. And that is something worth getting up for in the morning.

Dan: Can you update me on the latest developments at Gx?

Tony: We now have local exchanges in Canada, Southern Africa, the UK, DACH and India. These are operated by local teams, helping to make prepaid happen there. Our business has three components:

• Intelligence, so you have access to resources to help you make better business decisions and better investments
• Connections, so you have access to people, partners and products to help your business grow
• Support, so you have access to an expert or a donkey who can provide you with the help you need, when you need it

Dan: How have you been investing in these components?

Tony: We continue to invest in our online research library. It now has over 600 items on it, fully categorised and accurately tagged for ease of use using our search engine. Members have access to it via a password. The Professor (Dan Horne) has done a great job of pulling this together. But we can’t force members to use it. Although I can’t quite understand why. It is like being a member of the gym and not visiting the personal massage centre. It is crazy not to!

We are carrying out research to produce new Prepaid Market Assessment reports in different countries too. Last year we covered France, DACH, Canada, India and the UK. In 2012 we expect to be producing them on Turkey, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand and Russia.

Dan: So that’s ‘intelligence’. What about the ‘Connections’ component, the events.

Tony: We are holding ten times more member events than any other company in prepaid. 44 in total: Canada 6, France 11, UK 13, DACH 3, SA 4, India 5, USA 2, Italy 1, Ireland 1, Australia 1. The idea is that our members of the Global Prepaid Exchange can attend all of them at no additional charge. As many people as they like.

Dan: And ‘Support’?

Tony: We have a stronger account management team of three, a new research manager, a new professor of research in the US, and a new Dx support manager in the UK. We employ a total of 18 people altogether.

We also run a market development programme called ‘Voices of Prepaid’ in the UK and India, led by our hugely experienced Managing Director, Kevin Harrington. This is an integrated programme of public relations, conferences and community relations that stimulates adoption of prepaid in places where there is great potential for prepaid and relatively low adoption. Members gain prestige, presence and leads from their membership.

Dan: Some of our members want to promote their brands and be seen to be different. How can you help?

Tony: Well the exciting news is that members will soon have an opportunity to promote their company’s products and services at our popular events. We’ll have a total of sponsorship 200 slots available around the world, and they are all very cheap to purchase. For example, in France there are only three sponsorship slots available: one Event Sponsor and two Programme Partners; you can book one of the Programme Partner slots for less than $1,000.

Dan: And what else?

Tony: Well the latest development, launched this month, is a new social networking group for prepaid people in France. It is called, Prepaye en France and it is hosted on LinkedIn. Our global group called People in Prepaid has over 2,600 members, and continues to grow. We plan more such local groups in the future.

Dan: We’ve almost arrived, TC.

Tony: Well, I know that we’re heading off to celebrate the first anniversary of Prepaid Exchange France, as Global Prepaid Exchange celebrates 100% growth in each of the last two years. But we haven’t nearly arrived, we’ve only just started. I am happy that we are helping to make prepaid happen, and with our members at the heart of this, are starting to improve lives everywhere.

Dan: But what about Prepaid Awards? You’re the CEO of that as well, aren’t you?

Tony: Well, yes I am, but it’s really run by our super-team, Emma Armstrong and Joelle Harari. The idea is that we bring together the ‘good and the great’ in the industry to celebrate best practice, quality and innovation. Last year we had 600 people at our nine-hour ‘Oscars of Prepaid’ at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

We were told that the event was a big success. So now they’re developing the project in the most exciting way. Emma has decided that we are being selfish to keep this to the British. So we are running Prepaid Awards events in other countries too, such as France, Canada, India, Austria and South Africa.

With Philippe Bertinchamps at the helm in France, I imagine that Prepaid Awards France will be the best of them all. We will be presenting awards for seven categories there. People can propose their company or programme to the Founder Members of Prepaid Exchange France, who are responsible for the judging.

Of course there are sponsorship opportunities, and we are already seeing a great deal of interest from international companies who want to promote their services in other parts of the world.

Dan: What is your final message for your members around the world?

Tony: In my country, we have a saying, ‘A problem shared is a problem halved.’ When I shared the problem I have with my heart condition earlier, I felt the problem became smaller, so thank you for listening.

Regarding prepaid, I believe that prepaid is one of the most exciting industries to be involved with, anywhere in the world. I think Georgina was right. Prepaid makes my heart race. And I hope that for our members, prepaid will make their hearts race too.

Robert will be responsible for corporate governance and support to the Executive Board of Global Prepaid Exchange (Gx). In addition he will act as spokesman of the company and will be responsible for investor relations.

Robert will be joining law firm Locke Lord in February as Global Head of Cards & Payments. He has over 20 years’ experience in the cards and payment systems arena and covers all aspects of consumer finance and the technology behind it, with a vast knowledge of consumer protection, data protection, banking regulation and compliance.

Robert is a leading spokesperson on current issues facing the European Payments’ Industry including the Payment Services Directive, SEPA, Third Money Laundering Directive and the second E-money Directive and regularly speaks worldwide on prepaid cards and its technology. He was named Best Industry Contributor at The Prepaid Awards 2011, recognizing his achievements and commitment to the industry. He founded the Prepaid International Forum in 2007.

Historically Robert has worked closely alongside Gx to assist in the expansion of the prepaid industry globally. Gx is delighted to have Robert join the team at an exciting time for the organization having recently secured their 120th member and having launched domestic operations in France, Canada, India and Southern Africa.

Tony Craddock, CEO of Global Prepaid Exchange, says, ‘Robert is a powerhouse of great thinking. We’re delighted to have him on the team.’

Robert Courtneidge says, ‘This is a natural step in helping the prepaid industry realise its potential. I’ve always admired the energy and passion of the Gx team, and am pleased to be joining in a formal capacity’.

Electronically Managed Employee Benefit Programs provide a flexible technological platform for corporates to launch Benefit/Discount programs & Foodcourt Programs for their Employees. Employees are provided with (Bar-Code encoded Physical Card or Mobile based Card) and each card is loaded with Max Cap Privilege limits with clearly defined validity period. Max Cap privilege limit can be defined by the grade/ tier of the employee. Each card has a unique card ID along with the Employee ID.

‘Voices of Prepaid India’ (VoPI) is another new strategic initiative with Global Prepaid Exchange (Gx) program. ‘Voices of Prepaid India’ is a new Elite Panel Body that has been founded by Gx – with QwikCilver as one of the anchor founding companies. This Body will also have leading global companies like American Express, FIS, Atos as founding members.

Said T.P Pratap, Chief Marketing Officer, QwikCilver Solutions: ‘After successful tie ups with major corporates and launching India’s first fully Integrated Gift Card e-commerce Portal, giftbig.com, QwikCilver Solutions has now come up with yet another major initiative that will herald the rapid growth of the Gift Card category in India. The Gift Card category is already witnessing a tremendous growth across more than 150 cities & towns among consumers and corporates after our launch of India’s first fully integrated Online Gift Card Megamall: http://www.GiftBig.com by QwikCilver’.

Tony Craddock, CEO, VoPI programme, Global Prepaid Exchange said, ‘It is India’s turn to benefit from prepaid. Around the world, prepaid is being adopted to solve problems that normal payment tools such as cash or credit, or normal physical gifts, cannot solve. Leaders such as QwikCilver, Atos Worldline, FIS and American Express have combined forces to stimulate demand. I applaud their vision and willingness to collaborate, because as a result, Indian consumers will benefit’.

Added T P Pratap, “With our pioneering efforts and strong client base across diverse corporate categories like Trent-Landmark, Titan, Madura Garments, Arvind Brands, PVR, Puma, Flipkart, among others, we are very pleased to be selected to be one of the core founding members of “Voices of Prepaid India” by Global Prepaid Exchange – that will work on growing this Prepaid & Gift Card category across consumer segments in India.

“The programme’s purpose is to stimulate demand for prepaid products and services in India by creating awareness, understanding and interest in prepaid as an attractive solution for retailers, businesses and government.”

Corporate sector can now provide this innovative QwikCilver technology to their employees with the Employee Privilege Card for Benefit/Discount programs & Foodcourt management programs. QwikCilver provides real-time & email reports on card usage so that the client can monitor the program at it ends easily. With the use of QwikCilver technology, the Employee Benefit programs not only have lesser management and transaction costs but also offer convenience of handling the entire operations!

Employee has to present this card at the Foodcourts and stores to enjoy the benefits or discount at the participating stores. The process of according thevalue or discounts, verifying employee limits, tracking employee limit utilization is done in real time which makes it very easy to run the program at the different participating outlets. The Program will also support deactivation of discounts during specific “Blackout” periods as defined by the Client. Program also supports card deactivation and re-Issual, in case of loss of card or employee resignation. These cards can be re-loadable and can be cross utilized for awarding Bonuses, Special Product Purchase Schemes and Special Recognition initiatives as well. The program can be extended to as many employees as desired.

About QwikCilver Solutions

QwikCilver Solutions is a Technology Company that has built a unique Technology Product providing end-to-end stored-value-card solutions to retail and corporate customers. The company is funded by leading Venture Capital Funds, Accel Partners & Helion. QwikCilver enable their Retail brands to enhance their sales & brand loyalty through innovative customer engagement programs such as Gift Cards, Loyalty Cards, Discount Cards, and Frequency Cards etc.

For more information, please visit www.qwikcilver.com

About GiftBig.com

GiftBig.com aims to be one stop shop for all the prepaid gifting options in the country. Providing an awesome gifting experience is the motive driving the team at giftBig.com. We believe that by gifting a gift card, you provide an infinite amount of choice to the recipient and hence you Gift Big.

For more information, please visit www.giftbig.com

Press release - People want to know about prepaid

The Prepaid industry is solving problems and delivering solutions for governments, companies and individuals globally. Expert estimates show the sector to be growing at a phenomenal 40% year on year. Growth like this always attracts interest and a yearning for more good quality, factual knowledge.

To satisfy this demand Smartex and Global Prepaid Exchange have agreed to partner in the establishment of a specialist forum, offering four full-day meetings every year from launch. The initial planned meeting dates will be: 23rd February, 24th April, 11th October and February 2013. Forum meetings will be open to representatives from local government, educational establishments, commercial companies and other potential scheme operators, as well as other members of the prepaid industry and of Smartex. Meeting sessions and workshops will highlight to attendees the opportunities that prepaid can bring to their sector, and the problems it can solve.

Richard Poynder, Chairman of Smartex said, “Prepaid is growing in importance, and a new membership-based forum is an excellent way to bring our two communities together to understand and promote these products. We are delighted to be working with Global Prepaid Exchange as our partner in this part of the e-payment revolution.”

Kevin Harrington, Managing Director of Global Prepaid Exchange, explained, “It is important for us to continue to deliver high quality knowledge and connections to our members and the industry, as well as business sectors for whom prepaid can solve problems and increase profits. This agreement with Smartex will enable us to grow our capability in this area.”

For editors

About Global Prepaid Exchange

Global Prepaid Exchange is the widest-reaching prepaid industry organisation in the world with a membership of over 80 companies that spans four continents. Members are involved in issuing, processing, manufacturing or distributing three out of four of the world’s prepaid programmes.

MasterCard, Visa, Sainsbury’s, First Data, InComm, CPI Card Group, Subway, Ceridian SVS and American Express all use the Global Prepaid Exchange to access industry connections, obtain insight into the marketplace and promote dialogue between businesses with a shared commercial goal.

About Smartex

Now in its 20th year, Smartex operates the world’s largest international network of professional associations concerned with prepaid, smart card, RFID and biometric technologies and applications, with over 300 members spanning three continents.

Smartex’s UK forums continue to educate and inform their members, providing unrivalled networking opportunities within the main market sectors of NFC, smart payments, public transport and higher education. In 2011, Smartex held 21 meetings for its members in the UK, with over 600 attendees and 135 speakers. Smartex also provides independent consultancy services, and holds regular residential workshops in Cambridge.

Further information

Smartex Limited www.smartex.com Richard Poynder richard@smartex.com PO Box 146, Haverhill, Suffolk CB9 7RL

Global Prepaid Exchange Limited www.globalprepaidexchange.com Natalie Worpole, PR4 natalie@PR4.com 020 3142 6800 or 07919 278366

A Christmas survey by Global Prepaid Exchange, found that 75% of us now have 3 or more loyalty cards and nearly half of us (41%) wouldn’t leave home without one. The survey found that loyalty cards are now used by nearly all of us, with 91% of survey respondents reporting that they use a loyalty card when shopping for food. The savviest shoppers surveyed said they often saved up their points to buy something specific, and would actually choose to shop somewhere they had a loyalty card over another store.

Kevin Harrington, the MD of Global Prepaid Exchange explained, “Loyalty cards use has exploded recently and they have really helped supermarkets know their customers and incentivise them. Some worried that customers were less happy about the information that was being collected about them but 70% of those surveyed actually agreed that loyalty schemes help retailers better understand their needs.”

Organisations like Prepay Solutions and The Logic Group are now developing more technologically advanced loyalty schemes that use Smartphone technology that will really wow shoppers in the near future. These innovations look set to transform loyalty schemes and increase our interaction with them.

Kevin continued, “These innovations are changing the way we interact with brands as they are now able to offer prepaid incentives. Retailers who prompt shoppers with targeted offers, that are easily accessed, whilst they are physically in store, increase the likelihood of making a sale, as many brands have already discovered. We all like getting something for nothing, so we are far more likely to enter a shop where there is even the chance of receiving an incentive.”

Kevin summarised what this means for shopper and retailers, “Whilst the supermarkets have led the way with loyalty schemes and increased its acceptance, this new technology means that even the smallest retailer can and should introduce loyalty programmes over the coming year, but instead of a wallet full of cards the programmes are likely to be stored on your phone.”

Kevin concluded; “I’m really pleased that the survey found that most customers will welcome this type of targeting – it is now for the retailers to take advantage of this massive opportunity.”

Notes to Editors:

Global Prepaid Exchange, www.globalprepaidexchange.com, is the widest reaching prepaid industry organisation in the world with a membership in over 80 companies that spans four continents. Members are involved in issuing, processing, manufacturing or distributing three out of four of the world’s prepaid programmes. MasterCard, Visa, Sainsbury’s, WHSmith, First Data, InComm, CPI Card Group, Subway, Ceridian SVS and American Express all use Global Prepaid Exchange to access industry connections, obtain insight into the marketplace and promote dialogue between businesses with a shared commercial goal.

Press enquiries and interview requests to:

PR4: Natalie Worpole
020 3142 6807
Natalie@pr4.com

The call for entries will be ready for download on Monday 21 November 2012.

The Prepaid Awards India is held annually to recognise the significant achievements and successes of the prepaid sector. The aim of this event is to bring people and companies together from across the industry to celebrate best practice and innovation within the industry.

After a successful launch in 2011, Prepaid Awards India will be changing so companies can nominate themselves and then be judged. An independent panel of experts will score the entries in each of the six categories via a strict judging process where the winners will be established. The winners from this awards ceremony will automatically go through to be judged for the Global Prepaid Awards, which will take place in London in October 2012.

The Prepaid Awards India will be taking place on the 15 February 2012 in Mumbai, venue to be announced shortly. Around 200 people from across the Indian prepaid industry are expected to attend this dinner to celebrate the best in Prepaid. This promises to be an exciting event as not only do the awards build awareness of prepaid across all sectors of the industry, it also provides an excellent opportunity to truly recognise and congratulate those that have made prepaid the exciting industry it is today.

I also found it interesting that a consumer has used the Ukash YouTube channel to make a customer service request regarding a Ukash NEO prepaid Master Card.

What’s the learning here? Talk to your customers and they will talk to you.

The announcement quickly received a hostile reaction from financial advice website MoneySavingExpert.com and now the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Scheme) has also come forward to warn consumers that these types of payment vehicles are often not eligible for compensation should the provider go bust. Other industry observers including foreign currency firm FairFX, have been quick to point out that the card is one of the most costly products of its kind on the market with fees relating the foreign currency, ATM withdrawal and inactivity all coming into question.

So here we have a newly launched card, which will offer tangible benefits to travellers but will also come with some caveats. I think this serves as a reminder to all, that media and consumer perception play an important role in the growth and ultimate success of our industry. Shouldn’t the consumer always drive the development of a product concept? I just hope in this case, this strategy has been implemented.

Dan Stretton
Head of Service Delivery

So it has been for me this week. As we raised the tempo with the Prepaid Awards and the seven other events we ran or supported in the preceding two weeks, we prepared to move into new offices near Southwark Bridge on the Thames. Meanwhile, in the background we had been strumming away at creating a new web site for Gx for several months.

We also started making music on our biggest research project in recent years and brought some long-standing relationships to a peak, ready to welcome more new companies into the Global Prepaid Exchange, Prepaid Exchange France and Prepaid Exchange Southern Africa. We brought together the different components of our operation in India – Prepaid Retreat, Prepaid Awards and Voices of Prepaid India – to maximise their impact on making prepaid happen in this exciting new market. And with two new members joining the London team this month, Georgina and Helen, we completed the orchestra.

Tchaikovsky’s finale features eleven cannon shots in an anthem called, God Save the Tsar! As our team enters our new office on Monday morning and the world sees a new web presence for us and each of our Domestic Exchanges, I will listen for the sounding of the cannons and the music of our anthem: Long Live Prepaid!

Tony Craddock
CEO