How would you best describe Intercash and its niche within the payments industry?
Intercash is a brand of our head corporation, Andaria Ltd, that specializes in the prepaid cards segment of issuing in the payment industry. As such, Intercash focuses its efforts and expertise in the B2B2C vertical of this segment. Intercash has developed a unique platform that allows Prepaid cards to be used internationally as a means of payment as well as instant and global electronic money transfers from a corporate bank account directly to a card in the hands of the beneficiary. We have developed a dual interface to our prepaid MasterCard/Visa cards where a card account can be used via an E-wallet interface with a participating merchant (similar to Paypal) and via the MasterCard/Visa open loop worldwide network, all feeding from the one card account balance in the consumer’s hand.
This of course opens the door to endless applications for our clients in the B2C world while we provide them with the full B2B backing in terms of technology, operational support, reporting and reconciliation, compliance (AML, Fraud, KYC, etc.), legal and all other issuing licensing; offering a full turnkey solution. We are therefore a one stop shop for companies that would like to own or use a prepaid card program in the most efficient way and as fast as possible with intros complicated segment.
In order to be most effective in this space Intercash has invested millions in various issuing relationships around the globe including Mexico, Canada, USA, China and the Pacific-rim, all in addition to the full issuing capacity in the EEA region. We have also integrated our platform to multiple technical and commercial partners that can provide easy access to merchants with minimal to no technical integration efforts.
Andaria Ltd. is now offering a new partnership program to banks around the world that are interested in using our rails, infrastructure and platform (broken down by various segments and services) in order to better manage their “Bin Sponsoring” departments and/or open a new division to market prepaid card services. This new program offering is very close to fruition with a full marketing campaign and operation support division via our new brand www.BinSponsorship.com, where you will be able to find all information relating to this new and innovative way of thinking and operating in the prepaid card industry.
What hurdles did you face when you grew from just servicing client in Canada to clients all over the globe?
The most obvious hurdle was related to licensing, marketing and distribution rights by the nature of this highly regulated industry. Additionally, there was the challenge of building our network assets around the EEA e-commerce communities and establishing a trusted environment to be able to sell into these new markets. We recreated the full platform to adapt to Europe as well as other global markets. We’ve invested both years and millions to be here at the forefront of the industry today.
Considering the payment industry has been changing at a rapid rate over the past few years what is Intercash doing to stay ahead of the change and add value to its customers?
Intercash is one of the industry drivers for change; the industry needs to catchup and adapt to the changes we bring forward and impose in the market via our creative thinking, marketing, technology and general operations.
We are constantly creating new ways to use Prepaid cards within the payment global applications and e-commerce while making sure to consistently stay ahead of the game. We have to work hard to make sure regulators, issuers and various other parts of the food chain catch up with us and can supply our demands for the industry – we are the front line of the industry. Being uniquely positioned in the market to have on one hand, with all the back-end tools and necessities on the other hand, having a fully developed front-end offer for merchants and consumers is how we deal with change and move forward with nothing slowing us down.
Are there any lessons that you have learned from owning your own ATM business prior to 2001 that you took with you to Intercash?
Yes, I learned and applied how to always be forward thinking and creative but to not lose sight of the market. I’ve also learned that it’s crucial to capture market share as quickly as possible as your competition is as good and as fast. I’ve learned to not take our internal capacity for granted and hope to get rewarded for it – we need to work hard on both fronts; front and back in order to maintain our leading position in this industry.
Where do you see the prepaid industry headed within the next 5 years?
I see this industry continuing to grow tremendously from the perspective of potential but also equally growing in operational challenges. The goal and the drive is to offer global solutions, easy technology, electronic money transfers, etc… With these goals come heavy challenges of compliance, AML control, Network access limitations, distribution etc… Intercash is ready for all of the challenges and that is why we have put efforts into building “local” financial and marketing relationships in several countries and jurisdictions around the world. We are one of the only companies able to state that we can issue globally due to the nature of our platform and our ability to manage multiple banks and providers around the world all the while providing one point of service and contact to a merchant that wants to work the globe.