Under the agreement, Ingenico will integrate Card Commerce's pre-paid technology platform into its wireless and countertop portfolio to create the market's most comprehensive pre-paid consumer card proposition.

With the largest installed base of payment terminals in the world, Ingenico will promote Card Commerce's services to its existing customer base and reseller network. Based in Dublin, Card Commerce is an independent, highly focused provider of prepaid payment services to the retail and financial services industry.

Cillian Wright, general manager for Ingenico Ireland said, "With retailers and the banking industry under intense economic and competitive pressures, brand differentiation is key. By selecting the Ingenico and Card Commerce pre-paid solution, these businesses have an opportunity to deliver significant value to consumers through the provision of unique and highly personalised loyalty card and gift card schemes today. We look forward to bringing the benefits of our new joint offering to both new and existing customers."

According to Eoin Whyte, sales director at Card Commerce: "Today's announcement creates an exciting partnership that will have a significant impact in the prepaid marketplace. With a market share in excess of 60 per cent in the UK and Ireland, and 15 million active payment terminals globally, Ingenico provides a significant channel for Card Commerce, while our own uniquely functional pre-paid platform further enhances Ingenico's strategy of driving true added value for its customers."

This partnership will support and enhance the rapid prepaid market growth in the UK and Ireland, delivering the tools to enable merchants, banks and other value chain players to build brand differentiation, achieve significant revenues and enable improved customer retention and loyalty strategies. Critically, the partnership will also ensure a flexible and future-proofed platform enabling businesses and public sector organisations (PSOs), to benefit from new technologies such as Near Field Communications and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), as the pre-paid market matures.

The closed loop pre-paid market in the UK in 2008 alone is expected to be worth approximately £3.2 billion[1] when cards and voucher based programmes are factored together. Recent research from MasterCard[2]showed that the government pre-paid sector is estimated to account for a minimum of 23 per cent of total spending on pre-paid cards across Europe by 2010. The global value of pre-paid card programmes is estimated[3] to be worth $3 trillion by 2010, while in Europe this is likely to be $100 billion[4].

[1] IRI Analysis for the Voucher Association, 2008

[2] Published in May 2007

[3] According to TowerGroup

[4] According to MasterCard