GPR Cards And DDAs: The Same, Only Different

GPR Cards And DDAs: The Same, Only Different

Boston, MA -- General Purpose Reloadable (GPR) prepaid card market growth has occurred largely outside the boundaries of the traditional financial institution market and, for certain consumers, there is no longer a need to directly use a bank or credit union as their primary financial services provider.

In this report, GPR Cards And DDAs: The Same, Only Different, Mercator examines whether a GPR card can replace a DDA and, if so, the most important questions traditional debit issuers should ask as they develop strategies involving these products.

As retail financial institutions continue to fight their way back from a bruising round of new regulations and a soft economy, this report breaks apart this specialized market into opportunity segments, examines its composition and how consumers view GPR card products, and reviews the economic model for both traditional debit and GPR cards. Insights of one major financial institution putting a GPR card into the market today are also shared along with lessons learned from this early strategy.

"For this research, we spoke to issuers of all sizes and types to gain a better understanding of how the traditional debit issuer market views GPR cards and whether or not they can, or should, replace retail DDAs," Patricia Hewitt, director of Mercator Advisory Group's Debit Advisory Service comments.

Highlights of this report include:

A detailed discussion of the unbanked/under-banked market segments.

A comparison of the FDIC Safe Accounts Pilot and the Walmart MoneyCard.

A discussion of the economics of these two account types.

An interview with BB&T including their experiences in launching their MoneyAccount product.

An analysis of the factors a traditional debit issuer might consider before launching a GPR card-based product.

One of 15 exhibits in this report:

This report is 29 pages long and has 15 exhibits.

Companies mentioned in this report include: BB&T, Walmart, FDIC, FIS, iBankUp, CFSI, Fiserv.

Members of Mercator Advisory Group have access to this report as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access and other membership benefits.

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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.