Univision and MasterCard launch new prepaid cards for Hispanic consumers

 The Univision Prepaid MasterCard Card® (Tarjeta Univision MasterCard Prepagada®) and the Univision MasterCard Gift Card® (Tarjeta de Regalo Univision®), two new prepaid financial services, were introduced after Univision Communications has announced a strategic alliance with MasterCard Worldwide. These two prepaid cards are being designed to provide Hispanic consumers with access to relevant, flexible and valuable financial tools that can be used anywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted. The services are expected to be available nationally in 2010. 

Joe Uva, president and chief executive officer, Univision Communications Inc. commented: “Univision’s mission is to inform, empower and entertain the Hispanic community. We recognize, better than anyone, the importance of empowering Hispanics by connecting them with financial tools and services they can trust. Our financial services offering is an extension of our ‘Cuentas Claras’ initiative. We’re proud to partner with MasterCard, a payments leader that shares our goal of providing the tools, resources and services to empower our community.” 

The Univision Prepaid MasterCard Card aspires to offer the U.S. Hispanic community a culturally relevant, safe, cost-effective alternative to cash. All merits of the prepaid card will be available – the card is more convenient and costs related to cashing checks and enables consumers to better track and manage spending owing to the ability to monitor time and places of purchases with the card. 

Chris McWilton, president, U.S. Markets said: “We are working closely with Univision, leveraging their unique knowledge and reputation within the Hispanic community, to develop solutions that meet the payment needs of U.S. Hispanic consumers. Many U.S. Hispanics rely heavily on cash, and in doing so fail to take advantage of the safety, convenience and reliability of electronic payments. Together with Univision we will provide access to financial products and education that benefit the Hispanic community and open the door to the mainstream financial system for many individuals who are not currently well served by it.” 

The study conducted by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) showed that about 40 million U.S. Households are financially underserved (106 million people), among them 19 % are Hispanic. In addition, 35.4 % of Hispanic-Americans are unbanked vs. 31.6 % of Black Non-Hispanic Americans and 11.2 % of Other Americans (i.e., Non-Hispanic and non-Black, including Asian-Americans and Whites).

The Univision MasterCard prepaid products will be issued by The Bancorp Bank pursuant to license by MasterCard International Incorporated.