Dubai to host 5th
annual Prepaid Summit: Middle East in March 2014
Experts To Debate Prepaid
Opportunities And Threats
in
association with Visa
Conference
and Awards Dinner
March
19 2014
Conrad Hotel, Sheikh
Zayed Road, Dubai
Dubai
UAE, March 2014: Regional and global demand for new consumer
experiences is driving the popularity of prepaid as a practical,
transparent and cost-effective international payment gateway for both
business and individuals, according to Douglas Blakey, Group Editor
Consumer Finance at leading business information provider, Timetric
Financial Services.
“The
most attractive feature of the prepaid model is its global
accessibility and usability. Prepaid can work across all levels of
market maturity. This can offer a huge boost to emerging markets, and
its flexible nature means that card ability can be easily tailored to
specific market demands and indeed the need of the user,” Blakey
explained.
He
was talking ahead of region’s fifth annual conference dedicated to
the prepaid sector, Prepaid Summit: Middle East scheduled to place in
Dubai’s Conrad Hotel on March 19. It is set to explore everything
prepaid, including the development of mobile wallets, opportunities
and threats, best practices and projects as well as throw light on
how to deliver quality customer service beyond expectation.
“As
the sector grows we see entry from both banks and non-banks. To
support growth it is important that the industry must focus efforts
on collecting statistical data to ensure informed investment
decisions are made to avoid any risk that may arise in the sector and
the market in general,” explained Blakey.
He
stressed that research is particularly important in the Middle East
and Africa where little is available, so that sector marketers can
better understand the true market dynamics.
Globally,
prepaid payment options are on the increase as they provide users who
are unbanked, under-banked as well as traditional banking customers
with a safe and secure payment solution.
“Some
of the projected product categories for general banked consumers
include consumer travel, healthcare accounts, gifts, online and
incentives. For instance the travel sector is seeing an uptake as
prepaid is a more convenient and safer alternative for travellers.
“In
fact, organisations and even governments, benefit from a streamlined
payment process which features extended control, reduces attempts of
fraud and exercises greater transparency and flexibility,” added
Blakey.
More
than 150 industry leaders will listen to the summit’s speaker
line-up representing companies such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Al
Fardan Exchange, Majid Al Futtaim Group, Commercial Bank of Dubai,
Emirates Islamic, National Bank of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Islamic
Bank and other leading financial organisations in the MENA region.
Visa is again supporting the event as title sponsor.
Registration
for the pre-event workshops and summit can be done online at
http://www.cardsinternational.com/event/prepaid-summit-middle-east-2014/attend/
