Bayberry, an advisory firm specialising in retail banking and growth strategy, today announced that it's Visa Prepaid Card project for the Association of British Credit Unions (ABCUL) is now live.
The launch of new prepaid Visa card marks the culmination of Bayberry's work on behalf of ABCUL to investigate, design and develop this innovative product for the UK credit union market. The prepaid card is designed with functionality specifically tailored to the credit union sector, addressing the limitations found in many current market offerings. ABCUL sees the card as a valuable addition to its growing portfolio of modern, flexible banking services on offer to its members.
Bayberry was appointed as advisor to deliver the new offering including leading business model design, business strategy, regulation, functional design, and vendor selection. Fidelity National Information Services (FIS Group) was awarded the transaction processing and software development contract for the service.
Annette Warne-Thomas, Head of Business Development for ABCUL commented, "Bayberry showed us the best way possible for ABCUL to get involved in prepaid. They untangled the complexities of the prepaid market and presented us with a business model that made sense in terms of risk and commercials. We couldn't have done it without them."
The credit union prepaid card's innovation comes in two parts: Firstly, it supports automated reloads and offers functionality specific to the needs of credit union members who may otherwise not be able to access current accounts. Secondly, its business model disintermediates third-parties in the payments value chain to ensure that the service is owned by the credit union movement and is efficient in its operation and cost structure.