The Post Office’s foray into financial services is picking up pace. Building on the success of the Travel Money Card, it launched the Post Office Money Card - a prepaid MasterCard with support from Raphaels and First Rate. With over 17 million customers served per week, it’s quite a clever move for the Post Office to diversify its offerings and capture market share. Not to mention that in the last few years prepaid cards have increased in popularity and the trend will continue to grow. According to a survey by MasterCard, UK prepaid cards are expected to grow 36% by 2017.

So why the spike in the demand for this piece of plastic? It comes down to consumers’ needs. They want control of their finances with a trusted service provider. Recent economic woes have led to more budgeting and saving. This means ease of managing available funds is extremely important. With the Post Office Money Card and other general purpose prepaid cards, consumers can keep an eye on spending without splashing too much cash. Customers easily purchase the card at local Post Office branches or online, load their funds and start making purchases at the point of sale, reloading the card as and when the need arises. It’s a particularly savvy tool for online purchases and students on a budget.

Prepaid cards make sense because they’re safer than cash. They can easily be replaced if lost or stolen. This option offers another layer of security especially for those looking to travel. Even if a card does go missing, customers have the benefit of knowing that their funds will still be available to them. Alternative payments are capturing consumer attention thanks to security and ease of use. The Post Office is capitalising on this opportunity by providing a new offering to its customers. We’re likely to see more people put their pounds with their post as it continues to branch out into the financial services arena.