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Press releases

Paysafe and Bankable support British Red Cross to offer Visa prepaid cards in emergencies

Aug 19, 2020

Charity transforms approach to cash assistance with new prepaid cards

London, UK: The British Red Cross has transformed its approach to cash assistance in the event of emergencies following a new partnership with banking-as-a-service provider Bankable and specialised payments platform Paysafe. Cash assistance is the means by which British Red Cross delivers financial aid during emergencies to make sure that recipients are able to access the goods and services they really need.

Emergencies - whether localised such as a house fire, or national or international such as a health pandemic - can have a large economic impact on communities. If homes are damaged and people aren’t able to work, communities that may already be in vulnerable situations are under increasing financial strain to make ends meet and British Red Cross is there to help. The charity is now able to give families and individuals in need access to prepaid Visa cards via on-the-ground support workers, instead of relying on cash.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, some media reports suggesting that cash may aid the spread of disease have resulted in a shift in its usage and some retailers no longer accepting it as a form of payment, despite scientific evidence to the contrary. According to Paysafe research undertaken in April 2020, 53% of Brits are worried about handling cash following the COVID-19 outbreak, with 51% saying they planned to reduce their long term use of cash due to health and safety concerns.

The British Red Cross’ new Bankable-branded prepaid Visa cards are issued by Paysafe and can be used by recipients at any point of sale or ATM, that accepts Visa. The cards are pre-loaded with an amount defined by the charity and have a unique identification number.

The British Red Cross strives to provide scalable and timely cash assistance within hours after any UK emergency. Its mission is to support individuals and communities in preparing for, dealing with and recovering from a crisis, whoever and wherever they are. The charity responds to an emergency on average every four hours, ranging from domestic fires or utility outages to floods or terror attacks.

Jon Pewtner, UK Operations Cash Manager at the British Red Cross, comments: “By allowing families and individuals to use prepaid cards in the event of an emergency we are able to provide a safe, discrete and empowering way to distribute money to those in crisis. We now operate our Cash Assistance programme with a 24-hour support team. Working with Bankable, Paysafe and Visa we’ve been able to transform our approach to cash assistance and the way we provide funds to those in need in emergency situations. With this programme in place, we have been able to respond with agility and action throughout our COVID-19 response.”

Eric Mouilleron, Founder & CEO of Bankable said: “We’re proud to be supporting the British Red Cross in transforming their financial services and the provision of real-time funds to those in need. This is just one great example of the amazing work they do in supporting the nation in the event of a crisis.”

Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO of Skrill, NETELLER and Income Access at Paysafe – responsible for the company’s Card Issuing division – added: “We’re seeing many innovative and specialised uses of prepaid cards, but this example is particularly powerful. We’re delighted to play a role in the British Red Cross’ transformation of its Cash Assistance programme.”

About Bankable:

www.bnkbl.com

Bankable is a global digital banking and payments platform. We help financial institutions, corporates and FinTechs deploy, orchestrate and operate highly differentiated payment solutions with quick time-to-market.

We provide an exhaustive range of digital banking and payment solutions under a “Banking as a Service” model. Our core digital banking platform is available in white-label or via APIs, enabling our clients to quickly deploy banking solutions – including digital banking solutions, virtual account solution, payment processing services, card programmes and mobile wallet services.

Our motto: “quick time-to-market”

Bankable’s rapid implementation approach enables clients to generate revenues faster, increasing their valuation and attractiveness. By promoting pilot-based-experimentation, Bankable allows its customers to quickly launch, test and validate a new service before moving towards a seamless deployment.

About Paysafe

Paysafe Group (Paysafe) is a leading specialised payments platform and the UK’s largest privately-held payments company. Its core purpose is to enable businesses and consumers to connect and transact seamlessly through industry-leading capabilities in payment processing, digital wallet, card issuing and online cash solutions.

With over 20 years of online payment experience, an annualised transactional volume of over US $98 billion, and approximately 3,000 employees located in 12+ global locations, Paysafe connects businesses and consumers across 70 payment types in over 40 currencies around the world. Delivered through an integrated platform, Paysafe solutions are geared toward mobile-initiated transactions, real-time analytics and the convergence between brick-and-mortar and online payments.

Visit us at www.paysafe.com.

About British Red Cross

For over 150 years, the British Red Cross has helped people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies. We enable vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help them recover and move on with their lives. redcross.org.uk

For media enquiries, please contact:

Anna Howard

Director of Corporate Communications, Europe and Asia, Paysafe Group

E: Anna.Howard@paysafe.com M: +447585 967772