MasterCard Launches Prepaid Refill Service in Europe

MasterCard announced today that it has partnered with payments provider CQR Payments Solutions, to launch its rePower service in Europe.

The rePower service allows MasterCard prepaid card holders to refill their card with cash at merchant locations. Consumers can do so via two different methods: By merchants converting cardholder’s cash onto a voucher which can then be redeemed online, or by handing the prepaid card and cash to the merchant, who then inserts the card into the point of sale terminal as if it were a regular purchase transaction.

For the voucher offering, CQR will provide acquiring, processing, customer service and a dedicated MasterCard redemption website.

For the POS solution, MasterCard said it has developed a specific rePower software package, which will allow the reload transaction to be carried out at a regular POS installed by any merchant.

According to a study commissioned by MasterCard this year, the European prepaid market is forecast to be worth $149 billion by 2017, growth driven mostly by consumer initiatives.

[See Also: Consumers Want Bank-Offered Prepaid Cards, Survey Says.]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio