(5 August 2008 – UK) PayPal has launched a pre-paid Visa card in the UK for use in the traditional retail setting and on the Internet.The PayPal pre-paid card is issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland and will be sold through PayPal’s UK website for a nominal fee.
When used in the traditional retail environment, the cardholder will be required to enter a PIN to complete the purchase. The card can be reloaded via PayPal’s website or offline at a Post office.
Carl Scheible, PayPal’s UK managing director, said the pre-paid card was launched in response to consumer calls for a payment product which helps people manage their spending.
But PayPal’s push into the pre-paid market is more likely to be driven by the growth in the size of the pre-paid card market.
MasterCard research published in 2006 suggests that UK expenditure on pre-paid cards would reach US$34b by 2010. The same report estimated that the total pre-paid card expenditure in Australia will come in at US$8b by 2010.