London based Prepaid Financial Services Limited, a payment technology firm is planning an IPO in 2019, to raise funds for a number of things including expansion into Asia, Africa, and North America. There are already several prepaid companies in the United States (Netspend, Green Dot, PayPal to name a few). The United States is the largest, most mature prepaid card market, with total loads exceeding $600 billion in 2017. Prepaid Financial Services plans to use their 10-year data set and machine learning to help determine what and how Millennial consumers want to interact with alternative financial service products as their catalyst for continued growth.
“Prepaid Financial Services has developed its offerings with tools such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and big data to cater to a demographic of tech-savvy millennials. It’s a market that Moran believes will be the next growth area for the fintech sector as a whole. “It’s what they know. Millennials already enjoy up to unlimited data. This is their time; this is their space. Previous generations can still be cash-attached, and millennials less so.
We know that Millennials are frequent purchasers of prepaid cards and like to use them in lieu of traditional checking accounts from financial institutions. But will we have enough Millennials to go around? Seems everyone is targeting this segment!
“In 2019, we predict that the global financial services community will be reassuring consumers about robust security features to encourage higher levels of uptake. Security is paramount, and the potential for anti-fraud within the broader financial services sector is phenomenally exciting.”
I agree security will start taking center stage with machine learning, artificial intelligence and biometrics leading the way to improved security, way beyond what we are accustom to today. Which is a good thing, as it will increase consumer confidence in digital offerings providing further growth.
Prepaid Financial Services operates in 24 countries and plans to expand into North America, as well as several countries in Africa and Asia.
Overview by Sue Brown, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
