Prepaid Card Payment Market Intelligence

The robust digital payments infrastructure, coupled with a high smartphone and internet penetration rate, has driven the prepaid card industry growth in the Asia Pacific region. Government policies, the flourishing fintech sector, and the global pandemic outbreak have also assisted industry growth in unprecedented ways. In India, for instance, the government has announced several policy measures and incentive schemes to accelerate the digitalization of the payments ecosystem.

In other countries, especially in Southeast Asian markets, the emergence of innovative fintech firms has accelerated the adoption of digital payment solutions such as prepaid payment instruments. The swift adoption of digital payments can be seen with each passing quarter in the Asia Pacific, and the trend is expected to further continue from the short to medium-term perspective. Over the next three to four years, the growth in online shopping is also expected to accelerate the growth of the prepaid card industry in Asia Pacific.

In Europe, the prepaid card landscape is expanding amid the growing shift towards the payment solution. With the cost-of-living surging and consumers avoiding high-interest accruing payment tools like credit cards, the shift towards debit and prepaid cards has increased significantly for daily purchases. This coupled with the fintech innovation and surging trend of online shopping has driven prepaid card transaction volume and value in the region.

Over the next few years, the European prepaid card industry is also projected to benefit from the growing number of vendors accepting prepaid card transactions. With a wider acceptance of prepaid cards, providers are expected to launch more open-loop prepaid cards rather than closed-loop prepaid cards to accelerate their gross merchandise value and volume from the short to medium-term perspective. Furthermore, providers are also expected to expand their regional footprint to capitalize on the growing uptake of digital wallets and prepaid cards in Europe.

The digital payment ecosystem has been also growing consistently in the Middle East and Africa region. Innovative fintech firms, coupled with a favorable regulatory environment and a growing tech-savvy consumer population, have resulted in the rising adoption of prepaid payment instruments.

As the prepaid card industry's competitive landscape continues to grow, prepaid payment instrument providers are also expected to diversify their product portfolio and enter into other business verticals. The growing adoption of cryptocurrencies across regions is also projected to attract payments giants globally. With firms seeking to diversify their payments flow, players are expected to launch crypto-prepaid cards at an accelerated pace.

The competitive landscape is also projected to grow significantly in the teen banking space. As more consumers in Europe embrace digital-first banks, the under-18 consumer segment presents a high-growth area for challenger banks in the region. In the Middle East market as well, the under-18 segment is also expected to experience a rapid-growth period over the next five years.

In Latin America, investment towards the development of robust payments infrastructure is also aiding the digital payments volume growth. With favorable regulatory policies, the investment from the central bank in developing payments infrastructure has grown significantly over the last few years, and the trend is projected to further continue from the short to medium-term perspective. This will keep driving the growth of the prepaid card market in Latin America in 2023.