As the premier provider of MasterCard prepaid cards in Europe, this significant milestone has been achieved across a diverse range of schemes including travel, money share, gift and affinity cards, to teen, payroll and charity cards. The Tesco MasterCard Prepaid Travel Money Card, with Programme Manager partner Altair, marks the 100th live scheme.

The Society's Card Solutions team began with the UK's first ever Maestro Gift Card in September 2005. Since then almost 2.3 million cards have been issued, with half a million in regular use each month.

The Society acquired a MasterCard SEPA (Single European Payments Area) licence in 2007, and is now the biggest provider of MasterCard prepaid cards in Europe, with an extensive range of cards available in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain, with several more countries launching this year.

Newcastle Building Society's involvement in ground breaking prepaid card developments include the launch of the first prepaid MasterCard PayPass card in the UK, which is a secure payment alternative to cash, and the selection as preferred partner for the recent MasterCard rePower, a point-of-sale reload service offering to be launched in 2009.

The success of Card Solutions has contributed significantly to the growth of Newcastle Strategic Solutions Limited (NSSL), the business to business arm of the Society. Over 120 new jobs have also been created within NSSL so far this year.

Kriya Patel, Head of Card Solutions at Newcastle Building Society commented: "We would like to thank all the programme managers we work with who have been instrumental in helping us reach this tremendous achievement. We are now in a market-leading position in the prepaid cards arena. Not only is this making a significant contribution to the Society, it is also a positive sign for the future of the prepaid card market.

"The prepaid card sector is growing quickly and the UK is now the second largest market after the US. I think we arre approaching an exciting phase in this maturing sector as prepaid cards become a key consumer product. We are now well placed for expansion across the UK and European markets."