Global Prepaid Markets Potential 2011 Update

Boston, MA -- Global prepaid markets have become an increasingly hot topic especially over the past two years. As the U.S. market matures and becomes crowded, both large incumbent and small emerging players are seeking additional opportunities to maintain sustainable growth over a longer term (or for ways to expand their customer base). At the same time, prepaid cards are growing quickly overseas. This growth includes many large emerging markets where consumers and merchants have traditionally been slow to accept electronic payments. The prepaid industries in those markets are hungry for input including capital, technologies, lessons, and expertise from more advanced markets.


In 2010, Mercator Advisory Group published the results of the first global prepaid market potential study that covered over 50 markets and six major prepaid categories. Since the publication of the first study, Mercator has continued to receive feedback, collect more information, and revise the study based on our deepening understanding of the global market.

As a result, this year's global prepaid market potential study has been greatly expanded and revised to provide an even better overview of the global market. 14 prepaid segments in 10 categories are included in this year's study.

"As our understanding of the global prepaid markets deepens and expands, we found that the global market is actually much larger and diversified than many have thought. The unique market situations, industry infrastructure, cultural differences, consumer preferences, regulatory environments, and business traditions, among others, all have a significant impact on the size and dynamics of prepaid card markets in different parts of the world," Terry Xie, director of Mercator Advisory Group's International Advisory Service and principal analyst on the report, commented. "We have significantly improved and expanded our global prepaid market model to better reflect the situation in different global markets and better estimate their market potential."

Mercator's latest research provides comprehensive analyses of underlying market conditions for prepaid cards in over 50 countries around the world.

This report contains:

• The world's top 30 markets (ranked by total prepaid card opportunities) in 14 prepaid segments.
• Highlights of regional prepaid markets in Europe, Asia-Pac, Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and Canada.
• Detailed breakdown of prepaid potential by segment for each of the top 30 markets as well as additional major markets in each region.
• Top geographical markets for each of the 14 prepaid segments.