The Lesson From GPR Cards

As the payments business attracts headlines for such innovations as open banking and account-to-account transfers—and rightly so—it’s easy to forget what’s going on with some fundamental services that keep finding new uses. That’s a pity, since focusing on such products is a useful reminder of the industry’s ingenuity.

Take, for example, general-purpose reloadable (GPR) prepaid cards. As it turns out, they keep serving new needs even as the industry widens the market for them. Audiences as diverse as the underbanked population and frequent business travelers are adopting the products for their convenience and, for some, as alternatives or complements to bank accounts.

The products also constitute a quite healthy market. GPR cards accounted for a total load value of $234 billion worldwide last year, a figure that’s growing at a compounded annual rate of 7%, according to recent research from Javelin Strategy & Research. The total prepaid card market, including GPR cards, is expected to generate $14.4 trillion in volume globally by 2032, up from $2.5 trillion in 2022, according to estimates and forecasts from Allied Market Research.

That kind of growth has researchers pinpointing the best products in the GPR market. As it turns out, the Serve Cash Back Card earned a first-place finish late this summer in Javelin’s inaugural effort at ranking the products. The results sorted out 10 major GPR card programs, with the Target Circle Card coming in second and the PayPal Prepaid Card third.

InComm Payments distributes the Serve Card after acquiring the program in 2018 for undisclosed terms from American Express Co., which remains the issuer. AmEx in 2010 had acquired Revolution Money, the original platform for the product, renaming it Serve.

Serve managed to finish on top even though it didn’t come in first “in any single category,” because of “consistent top-three rankings across all categories,” according to Javelin. It says it evaluated contenders on 51 criteria and in three categories—ongoing experience, cost, and additional benefits and features.

So what makes GPR cards worth paying attention to, let alone ranking? Their importance lies in their appeal to consumers looking for card products that can help them stick to a budget, Javelin says. “These cards serve as an important entry point for consumers who are shut out of traditional credit and debit card programs and also serve as a source of additional account access for those looking to budget their regular spending,” Jordan Hirschfield, director of prepaid payments at Javelin, said in a statement.

The point isn’t so much GPR cards as it is the ability to pinpoint unmet market needs. Those needs are out there. Those who satisfy them will flourish.

—John Stewart, Editor john@digitaltransactions.net