Just got a really interesting note about a new MasterCard from Phones4U.
It's called the 'Escape' Card and focuses upon migrant worker remittances.
What's interesting is that it has been launched by the mobile phone shop Phones4U, a completely non-bank non-carrier operation that is just a pure retailer of mobile telephony.
Here's the shortened write-up:
The new Escape MasterCard Prepaid Card will change the way people get money to friends and family abroad.
It’s the cheapest way; in fact it’s completely free.
It’s one of the cheapest pay-as-you-go cards around because there are no usage and monthly fees plus it’s free to load with cash at Phones 4u (a UK mobile phone shop) ...
In 2007, a whopping £3.1 billion left the UK* for friends and family abroad.
Money saved in fees could mean that you are able to add more to the amount your family or friends receive.
The card will save time and money for the 400,000** people who regularly move money abroad to family and friends.
As well as no surplus charges, it can be done over phone, text or the internet 24 hours a day and it only takes 60 seconds for the money to reach the other side (of the world). Compared to the usual 48 hours and £20+ it can take with the Western Union, that’s a lot of time and money saved.
Ethnic minority groups are twice as likely to live on a low income*** which means the benefits of banking facilities aren’t always an option.
*source: Developing Market Associates, 2007
**source: BME Remittance Survey 2006
***source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2008
This proves interesting because we all know that remittances is a key market ripe for the picking ... and what is the most likely place a migrant worker will visit when settling in a new country?
The mobile phone shop?
And just in case the migrant worker hasn't worked that fact out, they even created a little video to explain how to open the card account:
*
Yowsa!
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
