General purpose prepaid card provider UniRush LLC, thecompany that offers the RushCard announcedMonday that it bought rapid! PayCard from Wex Inc. on January 7.
UniRush is a leading provider oftechnology-based payments solutions that provides consumers with access totools that enable them to achieve their personal and financial goals. Similarto UniRush, rapid! PayCard has established strong paycard solutions through itsinnovative technologies and strong customer base. Together they will enhanceUniRush’s position in an attractive vertical that will serve as one of the keygrowth opportunities of UniRush’s business strategy.
The deal will expand UniRush’s product offerings taking itinto the commercial prepaid space. UniRush CEO and Chairman Rick Savard hasexperience running a combined operation such as this. He was formerly the headof NetSpend, which also had the Skylight payroll business. In addition, he wasthe CEO of FSV Payments Systems, which focused on payroll and incentives cards.Savard also is a board member with financial services incentives company PerkStreet Financial, which provides rewards to people using debit cards. Theconnection may lead to new features being added to the payroll business.
It will be interesting to see how UniRush handles thebranding for rapid! Will the Russell Simmons brand be applied to payroll cards,and would it matter to payroll card holders? They likely have chosen the cardbased on their employer, but for those looking for portability or a card thatthey can separate from their job, RushCard may be able to provide new options.
Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service for Mercator Advisory Group
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