The strategic agreement is an outcome of the prepaid card providers' continuous expansion in new territories and the full-service acquirer and payment service providers' aim to deliver excellent solutions in response to client demands.

Within the agreement, Prepaid Financial Services will work with Deutsche Card Services to develop prepaid card solutions for corporate clients. Some markets, e.g. Germany, where prepaid cards do not yet play as important a role, as they do in other regions such as UK, Italy and US, are especially interesting. Corporate clients, within these regions, are missing out on the significant benefits of prepaid card solutions. Prepaid solutions can be beneficial for travel and other corporate expenses, payment of disbursements, benefit payments, compensation payments e.g. for airlines and insurance companies and payroll administration, especially where banking facilities are underdeveloped.

At the outset, PFS will provide the technology and support to enable DeuCS to offer new payment solutions across different regions and territories whilst DeuCS will provide PFS with strategic access to clientele in new operating regions. The cooperation also includes plans to jointly develop new services in the future.

Noel Moran, Chief Executive Officer at PFS, commented: "We are extremely excited to be partnering with a highly respected organisation such as DeuCS. This partnership provides further validation of our growing stature as an industry leading global prepaid provider."

Jens Mahlke, Management Board member of Deutsche Card Services, stated: "We are happy to offer our clients and partners the world class prepaid solutions of PFS. This step is especially exciting for DeuCS, as we expand our service portfolio out of our native soil 'acquiring' to the opposite 'issuing' side of the card business."