Winners Announced at 7th Annual Prepaid365 Awards 2015

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Prepaid365 – The Prepaid Card Portal

01 Jun, 2015, 19:01 BST

LONDON, June 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

2 million Surveys, 1.1 million votes, 157 Entries and 30 Award Categories at 7th Edition of Awards: Centtrip, FairFX, NET+, Nikon, Travelex, Ukash & Pockit amongst Winners 

Prepaid365, the UK's leading prepaid card portal, announced the winners of the 7th Edition of the annual Prepaid365 Awards 2015 sponsored by Prepaid Financial Services.

The Prepaid365 Awards are the UK's dedicated consumer prepaid awards where accolades and recognition are delivered solely based on consumer votes, and the 7th edition of the awards were the largest to date with 157 entries across 30 award categories and 1.1 million votes received from over 2 million surveys over a 3 month voting period.

Consumers and existing cardholders across the UK voted for their favourite prepaid cards across various categories including General Spend, Travel, Money Transfer, Payroll, Gaming, Gifting, Basic Banking, Online Shopping and Youth as well as new categories to reward providers for e-Wallets, smartphone App's and Innovation.

Divya Sharma, Marketing & PR Director at Prepaid365, commented: "We are honoured and overwhelmed with the love and support that we continue to receive from the industry and consumers each year and the numbers at the Prepaid365 Awards 2015 are truly mindboggling. We take pride in playing our part as flag bearers for raising consumer awareness of the prepaid proposition. Next year, as we celebrate our 8th edition of the awards, we are raising the bar even further with a spectacular extravaganza - the first ever Prepaid365 Awards Dinner and Ceremony in London, to celebrate your achievements and drive even more mainstream exposure for your award winning propositions."

David Carr, CEO at EU Prepaid and one of the Judges for the B2B categories stated: "It is my belief that the 'Prepaid365 Awards' fill a niche in the market like no other, with all of the consumer card categories being voted for by the people that these cards were designed for;  consumers.  This unique differentiator makes them one of the most valuable awards that card programs and prepaid providers can receive. I am delighted to be invited back to judge the Business to Business Categories at the 7th Annual Prepaid365 Awards and am looking forward to seeing the published results."

Winners at the Prepaid365 Awards 2015 include 


   
   
          Category                      Winner                          Runner Up

    Best General Spend
    Prepaid Card               NET+ Prepaid MasterCard           Pockit Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Moneyshare
    Prepaid Card                PCS Prepaid MasterCard                Veritas Card

    Best Gaming
    Prepaid Card               NET+ Prepaid MasterCard           Ukash Prepaid MasterCard

    Best USD Travel
    Prepaid Card                FairFX Currency Card              ICE Travellers Cashcard

    Best EUR Travel
    Prepaid Card             my Travel Cash Prepaid Card           FairFX Currency Card

    Best GBP Travel
    Prepaid Card             my Travel Cash Prepaid Card          NET+ Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Multi-currency       Travelex Multi Currency         Unicambio Multi Currency
    Travel Prepaid Card            Prepaid Card                    Prepaid Card

    Best Corporate Travel
    Prepaid Card                FairFX Currency Card           Centtrip Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Corporate
    Prepaid Card             Centtrip Prepaid MasterCard         PFS Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Privacy
    Prepaid Card                    Veritas Card                 NET+ Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Youth
    Prepaid Card                  STA ISIC Cashcard             Camden COO-L Prepaid Card

    Best Gifting
    Prepaid Card                Nikon Prepaid Gift Card             Amazon e-Gift Card

    Best Online
    Shopping Prepaid Card      Pockit Prepaid MasterCard          NET+ Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Unbanked
    Prepaid Card              Ffrees Prepaid Visa Debit Card      PCS Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Basic Bank
    Account with Prepaid Card       Tuxedo eccount money          PFS Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Incentives/Rewards
    Prepaid Card                 ICE Travellers Cashcard    Ffrees Prepaid Visa Debit Card

    Best Free
    Prepaid Card                 ICE Travellers Cashcard       my Travel Cash Prepaid Card

    Best Prepaid
    e-Wallet & Card                   NET+ Prepaid MasterCard     i-Payout Prepaid eWallet

    Best Pay As You Go Prepaid Card   NET+ Prepaid MasterCard    Pockit Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Pay Monthly Prepaid Card     PFS Prepaid MasterCard      Tuxedo eccount money

    Best International Prepaid Card   PCS Prepaid MasterCard           T24 Black Card

    Best Newcomer                       Ukash Travel Money
    Prepaid Card                        Prepaid MasterCard             LEO MasterCard

    Best Prepaid
    Card Overall                  NET+ Prepaid MasterCard          PCS Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Prepaid
    Card Design                         ecoCard              PCS Prepaid MasterCard Chrome

    Best Prepaid
    Card Website                    FairFX Currency Card        Pockit Prepaid MasterCard

    Best Prepaid
    Marketing Campaign           Starbucks You & Who Campaign   Ukash Brit Awards Campaign

    Best Prepaid Smartphone App        Tag Control by PFS              T24 Black App

    Best Prepaid
    Innovation                         Travel Welfare             e+ Prepaid Citizen Card

    Best B2B Provider -
    Small Programmes < 10k Cards   Prepaid Financial Services    Payment Card Technologies

    Best B2B Provider -
    Large Programmes > 10k Cards        allpay Limited                  WEX Europe

John Sharman, CEO of Tuxedo Money Solutions, said: "The Prepaid365 awards perform a valuable function for the industry and most importantly for the cardholders. In an environment with increasing levels of choice for consumers, these awards recognise the card products that are truly valued by their users, as they are voted by the users. At Tuxedo, we're delighted to have retained our awards in 2015 and look forward to challenging again in 2016 as our offerings continue to evolve."

Noel Moran, CEO at Prepaid Financial Services, stated: "We are delighted to add this accolade to the others that we have won over the last 12 months. This represents an exceptional period of growth with revenues rising by 80% in the last 12 months. We provide our products and services to 100's of clients and banks throughout Europe and I am delighted to see so many of these clients amongst the award winners as we continue to build and deliver award winning prepaid propositions across multiple industries. We have a very well established ethos of pushing boundaries and challenging convention and we utilise our technology and agile approach in launching creative innovative programmes like Centtrip, MaaxiTap, Tag Control & Unicambio. We have been first to market in numerous territories or sectors across Europe and we thank the Prepaid365 Awards for the opportunity to showcase our products and clients and look forward to next year's inaugural Prepaid365 Awards dinner."

Amit Sharma, CEO at Prepaid365, commented:  "I would like to congratulate all the winners and runner up's at this year's Prepaid365 Awards. I would also like to thank all of our sponsors at Prepaid Financial Services, Prepaid Cash Services, Veritas, PrepaidEye and eLocal360 for their continued support of the Prepaid365 Awards. This year's awards broke the 1 million mark in votes and responses and I am delighted that we continue to engage with consumers and providers to celebrate all that is good about the prepaid value proposition."

Prepaid365 is the UK's leading prepaid card portal online to review, compare and buy prepaid cards representing an encyclopaedia of information on prepaid cards, providers and all things prepaid.

Find out more about the winners at http://www.prepaid365awards.co.uk or visit http://www.prepaid365.com to review and compare prepaid cards for consumers and businesses across various categories including Money Transfer, Travel, Gaming, Shopping, Payroll and Expense management, Privacy, Gifting and Business.

If you would like to find out more about the Prepaid365 Awards and sponsorship for the 2016 Awards, Dinner and ceremony, please get in touch with us at info@prepaid365.com

What the Winners Said 

  • Danny Chazonoff, chief operating officer, Optimal Payments stated:  "We are honoured to be recognised at this year's Prepaid365 Awards, which stands-out as a voice for the consumer in the competitive prepaid card landscape, and to win for Best Prepaid Card Overall again is a significant achievement. Our commitment to innovative product development is unrivalled in the industry and the recognition of our Net+ Prepaid MasterCard is a testament to the strength of our product offering and commitment to bring the best card solutions to our customers." 
  • Brian Jamieson, Co-Founder and Director at Centtrip, stated:  "Having previously experienced great success within the corporate foreign exchange world, it is an honour to now be acknowledged within this very exciting sector, particular so as a new comer to the prepaid space.  This is very much a shared recognition with our issuer, Prepaid Financial Services who have supported us from day one and played a significant part in the creation of what is a ground-breaking approach to international currency.   The future is extremely bright across the whole of the payments arena and we will continue to pioneer meaningful and customer focused change.  Throughout this year we will introduce new elements which we trust will see us back on this prestigious awards list again next year! Thanks to all those who voted for us at this year's awards and all at the Prepaid365 team for their support and vision in providing us with the opportunity to showcase Centtrip at the UK's only dedicated consumer prepaid awards." 
  • Tracie Gregory, Travelex's Cards Development & Implementation Manager, says:  "Prepaid365 is a trusted voice that provides consumers with unbiased advice so that they can decide which card is right for them.  At Travelex, we're committed to offering great value to global travellers so it really is an honour that the Travelex Multi Currency Cash Passport has been voted the best multi-currency travel pre-paid card by consumers across the UK." 
  • FAIRFX CEO, Ian Strafford-Taylor commented: "The fact that these awards were judged by customer votes, is incredible recognition of the hard work we do to provide customers with highly competitive rates and a convenient product through our prepaid card offering. We see this as the ultimate testament of customer satisfaction and are delighted with this overwhelming praise and support." 
  • Koko Sarkari, COO at ICE, stated:  "We have always put the needs of today's traveller at the heart of the ICE Travellers Cashcard so it is really pleasing to have such an overwhelming vote of confidence from the vast numbers of consumers Prepaid365 surveyed for these award wins. We are particularly delighted that our efforts to remove many of the charges usually associated with prepaid cards has been recognised.  This along with the fact we are the only prepaid currency card to offer a 1.5%* cashback on qualifying purchases really sets us apart from the competition." 
  • Ian Clowes, CEO of Payment Card Technologies (PCT), is:  "Delighted that we've been recognised as runners up for the award for the Prepaid365 Best Prepaid Provider of Small programmes.  PCT has the depth of experience necessary to deliver effective and innovative solutions in a fast moving, dynamic and global industry. This award highlights and rewards the teams' efforts to keep customer requirements central to the core solution, ensuring that Banks, retailers, online merchants, large and small corporations alike all benefit from our fully customised programmes and flexible approach." 
  • Alex Letts, CEO at Ffrees, stated:  "This is the second year in a row that Ffrees customers have voted for Ffrees to win at the Prepaid365 Awards which indicates that we are moving in the right direction.  There is still so much to do, and so much more we will be offering in 2015 which I hope will continue to reinforce the service and satisfaction that the family of Ffrees users get." 
  • Anne Marie Smee, Global Business Development Director, Sales-Promotions commented on the Nikon win;  "We are delighted to have been awarded the 'Best Gifting Prepaid Card' title for the Nikon Prepaid Card Programme. The fact that it's determined by consumer votes makes it all the more meaningful, as it demonstrates the real value of our proposition. At Sales-Promotions, we constantly strive to surpass our clients' expectations and deliver the highest quality of service attainable. Our goal for the Nikon campaign was to deliver an attractive, user-friendly and effective payment method for rewarding Nikon consumers for their loyalty to the brand. The Prepaid365 Award is a testament to our success in achieving this goal." 
  • Tim Fryer, Product Trading Director of STA Travel, said:  "We are thrilled to have retained the Prepaid365 award for Best Youth Prepaid Card. We have been working with Tuxedo Money Solutions for over five years and our card programme continues to evolve as we seek to offer a better and better service to our customers. The STA ISIC Prepaid Card is a dual function international student ID and travel money card, designed specifically for the student market. This award is evidence of how much the card it appreciated by our customers in the UK and we are now working with Tuxedo to take this highly valued product across our global footprint."  
  • Myles Stephenson, CEO of my Travel Cash, said:  "To win the Best EUR Travel Prepaid Card and the Best GBP Travel Prepaid Card awards, as well as being named a runner up in the Best Free Prepaid Card category is an honour. my Travel Cash has a continual focus on putting our customers first and to achieve such recognition in the Prepaid365 Awards, which are voted for by the public, is a phenomenal success for us. Both the Euro and Multi-Currency Cards are popular choices for our customers: as well as allowing access to great exchange rates the cards have many attractive benefits including 1% cashback on purchases and 24/7 customer service. These awards demonstrate that we've achieved our goal in creating travel money cards that deliver first class service and benefits to our customers." 
  • Sergio Vicente, General Manager at Unicambio stated:  "This prize is for us the acknowledgment of the innovativeness of Unicambio´s team, and how the payments business is changing all over the world. Our message to our clients is: When travelling, worry about how to get there, where to stay and the clothes to wear. Leave the rest to us. The message from our clients is: Unicambio Prepaid Card, your best travel companion; the safest and most convenient way to take currency with you when you travel!" 
  • Virraj Jatania, CEO & Co-founder at Pockit stated:  "Pockit is delighted to have won the Prepaid365 Award for Best Online Shopping Prepaid Card, and to be recognised once again for our commitment to social and financial inclusion for those who cannot access conventional banking services. Our Prepaid Card provides everybody with the opportunity to enjoy all that online shopping has to offer, and we are determined at giving our customers maximum value and great cashback on their online purchases, as well as on the high-street. This accolade reflects our success in achieving that goal and drives us to continue improving our product that has been recognised by the very people who use it. It's already been an exciting and successful year for Pockit, and these awards are a very welcome addition to 2015. We look forward to entering again next year!" 
  • Philip Meyer, Managing Director of Transact24 Ltd, stated:  "We are delighted to have received recognition from consumers in this year's prestigious Prepaid365 Awards. This achievement is a testament to the expertise and enthusiasm of the T24 team who have played a major role in the continued success and innovative of the T24 Black brand." 
  • Philip Aim, Director & General Manager of CreaCard SA, stated:  "CreaCard humbly recognizes that having been awarded 2 first and 3 runner up prices for the different flavours of its PCS branded prepaid MasterCard is the result of a well-coordinated effort between CreaCard departments and people as well as stakeholders like Prepaid Financial Services as issuer and MasterCard as Association. Without the commitment and professionalism of the people involved this would not have come through. We are happy to say that the combined horizontal product development and further vertical distribution integration of current and new PCS products, services and features continues to cement the PCS brand as a household name in the prepaid industry in France and new countries that keeps on appealing to cardholders without whom we would not be at the level we are today and whom we sincerely want to thank for their trust and loyalty." 
  • Phil Davies, Managing Director at PSI-pay, stated:  "We are absolutely delighted to win 'Best Prepaid Card Design' in the Prepaid365 Awards 2015. Unlike a lot of awards, the Prepaid365 Awards are consumer voted which matters even more to us - it shows that we've produced something that our wonderful customers find attractive and unique. We would also like to thank allpay Limited for working with us to deliver a prepaid card to our customers that strongly represents our brand and core values." 
  • Marshall Haldane, Director of Card Services at allpay Limited, commented:  "The success of winning this award is a testament to the hard work and creativeness of both the PSI-pay team and the card services team at allpay; it was a pleasure to work with PSI-pay on the ecoCard project and to assist them in a positive way in the rebranding of their company. We are delighted with this award and look forward to working on many more exciting and creative projects going forward." 
  • Councillor Paul Bettison, Leader at Bracknell Forest Council, said:  "As an early adopter and leader in the development of smart card technology within local government, we are delighted that the e+ card has been recognised nationally for its innovation. Together with allpay, we believe we have created something truly unique in the marketplace. Broadening the use of the e+ card and allowing people to take control of their personal budgets means that the technology really does add value to our residents. It's all about choice and we hope the security of the card will encourage more people to take direct control of their personal budgets." 
  • Jeffrey Rock, Project Support Officer at Camden Council, stated:  "The Camden COO-L card has given underprivileged young people living in Camden a chance to take part in positive activities they would have never been able to afford." 
  • Stuart Fullarton, Director at Travel Welfare, commented:  "We very proud and honoured to have been recognised by the industry for the Innovation involved in designing and building the Travel Welfare system. This recognition is a testimony to all the hard work and dedication put in by all those involved with getting the Travel Welfare software solution to where it is today and an incentive to continue to evolve and innovate." 
  • Natalia Yenatska, COO at i-Payout, stated:  "We are thrilled to be recognised at the Prepaid365 Awards! i-Payout is committed to offering cutting edge software and services, as well as integrated solutions to our multinational clients. Getting the vote of confidence from consumers and vendors is a great honour. The i-Payout team will continue to put forth its best efforts in providing the most efficient, customized turn-key solutions to enable global growth and business opportunities to our clients and their members." 
  • Kevin McAdam, Prepaid Director at allpay Limited, said:  "Being recognised by the Prepaid365 Awards cements allpay's position as one of the UK's leading prepaid card suppliers. Local authorities had a very tight timescale from government to implement new emergency payment schemes, and we were delighted to be able to develop a solution that has not only reduced administration and cash handling costs, but has accelerated the provision of funds to those in financial crisis. Additionally, the new platform we are currently implementing across local authorities and clinical commissioning groups across the UK adds further cutting edge functionality, providing service users with bank account lite features, allowing them to receive their salaries and care payments onto their prepaid card and make bill payments via direct debits and bank transfers. Now counting some of the UK's biggest banks, charities and local authorities as clients, we are able to offer any organisation a complete and customised prepaid platform whether they are looking to streamline their payment processes or build-up brand awareness." 
  • Damien Turman, Chief Marketing Director, VERITAS stated:  "Privacy is not an option it's a right. Today high end prepaid card VERITAS MasterCard is proud to add to our prize list this award of best PRIVACY prepaid card. VERITAS Private Network had been set up with strong partners. We are bringing back privacy to customers by offering today highest level of confidentiality when surfing on internet.  VERITAS is a high end prepaid card with no conditions, no commitments and no monthly fees specifically created for people with or without bank account. VERITAS thanks all its partners who participate in this success and especially our card issuer PFS, Ukash and Neosurf for making VERITAS one of the best prepaid card available all over Europe and North Africa." 
  • Dan Andersson, CEO and Co-Founder at LEO commented:  "At LEO, we are dedicated to building a Global and Multicultural business. Part of that is a commitment to find Global solutions in all areas of being an entrepreneur. The Pre-paid LEO MasterCard is very much a part of this, something that we know our members appreciate deeply, and I would like to use this opportunity to say thanks to all the consumers who voted for us at the Prepaid365 Awards 2015 for their support." 
  • Noel Moran, CEO at Prepaid Financial Services, stated:  "We are delighted to add this accolade to the others that we have won over the last 12 months. This represents an exceptional period of growth with revenues rising by 80% in the last 12 months. We provide our products and services to 100's of clients and banks throughout Europe and I am delighted to see so many of these clients amongst the award winners as we continue to build and deliver award winning prepaid propositions across multiple industries. We have a very well established ethos of pushing boundaries and challenging convention and we utilise our technology and agile approach in launching creative innovative programmes like Centtrip, MaaxiTap, Tag Control & Unicambio. We have been first to market in numerous territories or sectors across Europe and we thank the Prepaid365 Awards for the opportunity to showcase our products and clients and look forward to next year's inaugural Prepaid365 Awards dinner." 
  • John Sharman, CEO of Tuxedo Money Solutions, said:  "The Prepaid365 awards perform a valuable function for the industry and most importantly for the cardholders. In an environment with increasing levels of choice for consumers, these awards recognise the card products that are truly valued by their users, as they are voted by the users. At Tuxedo, we're delighted to have retained our awards in 2015 and look forward to challenging again in 2016 as our offerings continue to evolve." 

For further information, please contact Prepaid365/Emotion Associates Limited: 

  • Prepaid365 - The Prepaid Card Comparison Portal 

Prepaid365 is the UK's leading prepaid card portal online to review, compare and buy prepaid credit cards representing an encyclopaedia of information on prepaid cards, providers and all things prepaid.

The annual Prepaid365 awards, launched in 2009, recognise best in class prepaid propositions and prepaid card providers voted for by consumers and Prepaid365's subject matter experts, respectively with the awards being based on various factors including application process, card design, fee structure, features, functionality, added value and feedback from customer, customer services and the prepaid industry.

Visit Prepaid365 to find out more about the awards and this years' winners at http://www.prepaid365.com or visit the dedicated Prepaid365 Award website at http://www.prepaid365awards.co.uk

Prepaid365 is a trading name of Emotion Associates Limited - UK Registration Number: 06964513

  • Contact Details:  

Email:                 divya@prepaid365.com
Contact Person:       Divya Sharma
Website:              http://www.prepaid365.com
Twitter:               http://twitter.com/prepaid365
Facebook:             http://www.facebook.com/Prepaid365UK
Prepaid365 Blog       http://www.prepaid365.com/voice/

  • Emotion Associates Limited - Dedicated Prepaid Marketing Consultancy

    Emotion Associates is a niche consultancy with Creativity, Innovation and Emotion as its 3 pillars with the aim of providing marketing consultancy, planning, implementation and support services to the prepaid sector. Emotion Associates provides pre-launch planning and support to companies within the prepaid sector taking them through launch and post launch helping to launch new programmes and revitalise existing ones.

Emotion Associates was founded by Amit Sharma, a senior prepaid industry consultant and digital marketing expert specialising in producing tailored marketing campaigns for prepaid providers.

Key services include 

  • consultancy around retail & offline channel development
  • development of key partnerships
  • development of product value proposition and product definition
  • setup and management of digital channels in-house and via agency for SEO, PPC, Display, Affiliate, Social media, Email and Mobile marketing

Emotion Associates also provides prepaid programme managers the option to white label its services for their clients providing programme managers with in-house agency support and a new revenue stream but also providing clients with the experience, tools and support to run a successful prepaid card programme.

Emotion Associates aim to increase visibility and awareness of your brand and find the most cost effective mechanism to convert that Awareness, into Interest, Desire and ultimate Action (AIDA).

Find out more at http://www.prepaid-marketing.co.uk

SOURCE Prepaid365 – The Prepaid Card Portal