Anticipated Demand for Prepaid Cards among Latin America Unbanked

Paynews.com

Jun 17 2008

By 2015, 324 million unbanked Latin American consumers could have general-purpose prepaid cards, according to a study by NovoPayment.

The Miami, Florida- and Caracas, Venezuela-based firm develops prepaid card programs for the unbanked in Latin America.

NovoPayment says that by 2015, annual general-purpose prepaid card spending by unbanked Latin American consumers could reach US$214 billion a year. Prepaid cards will bring access to point-of-sale, ATM, mobile and online card transactions to consumers who today rely almost exclusively on cash, NovoPayment says.

The study by NovoPayments covers 15 countries across Latin America including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, and Venezuela. NovoPayment says that Brazil, followed by Mexico, will be the biggest general-purpose prepaid card market in the region by 2015.

In Brazil, there will be 109.9 million general-purpose prepaid cards in 2015, accounting for US$22.15 billion of spending, NovoPayment says. In Mexico, there will be 64 million general-purpose prepaid cards in 2015, accounting for US$54.34 billion of spending.

“Our study discovered a significant number of consumers with the income, access to infrastructure, and spending behavior to be viable users of prepaid general-purpose cards,” says NovoPayment CEO Anabel Perez. “Around 57 percent of the Latin American population has the need, the capacity, the means, and the necessary economic and social incentives to warrant prepaid cards.”

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