The appointments will see Phil Davies join the Product Management team for Prepaid Europe, whilst Claire Dudley-Hodson assumes the role of Business Leader, Prepaid Sales for MasterCard Europe.

Mr. Davies will focus on the continued development of MasterCard Europe's prepaid product portfolio to meet changes in demand from key industry stakeholders, including consumers, corporates and government and public sector agencies.

Having joined MasterCard in 2002 as Business Development Director, Mr. Davies has been responsible for developing European client relationships across MasterCard's credit, debit and prepaid product lines. Widely acknowledged as being an expert in e-money and prepaid cards issues, Mr. Davies previously headed up his own consultancy, Resource Associates, specialising in the payments and co-brand partnership sectors of the financial services industry.

Mrs. Dudley-Hodson will become the primary business support for issuing retail and commercial banks that have an interest in prepaid, working closely with the Prepaid Product Management team.

Mrs. Dudley-Hodson brings extensive retail card services, loyalty and prepaid experience from earlier roles with Alliance & Leicester, Tuxedo, First Data and ID Data.

Matt Lanford, Head of Prepaid Europe, MasterCard Europe, said: "As our team grows, so too does the wealth of knowledge and experience we offer our customers. The expansion of our team reflects our commitment to continually improving the offering to the European prepaid market, which is growing at an unprecedented pace.

"Demand for prepaid products is increasing within all our key stakeholder groups, from the consumer arena to the corporate, banking and public sectors. This latest round of appointments will continue the momentum achieved so far by our prepaid team in Europe."