News from the Wire

Bower to head NBPCA

Friday, July 25, 2014 — 12:54:27 (EDT)

Washington, July 23, 2014 -- The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) announces that Doug Bower will join the organization as Executive Director and President effective August 5, 2014.

"After an intensive search, we are pleased to welcome an experienced executive like Doug to help lead the trade association forward into its next chapter of growth and increased presence in Washington. With a background in payments and managing non-profit, member organizations, Doug's expertise makes him well qualified to help navigate NBPCA at a critical point in the prepaid card industry," remarked Robert Skiba, NBPCA Board Chairman and Executive Vice President InComm.

"Doug will bolster our current efforts of engaging members of Congress and regulators, as we anticipate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau prepaid rulemaking and work through other regulatory issues facing the industry," added Skiba.

Doug is a senior management executive with more than 20 years of experience guiding business-line operations, strategic planning, new business development, marketing, revenue growth and financial planning for profit and non-profit businesses.

Most recently, Doug was the Executive Vice President of Business Development for BlueYield, an auto lending exchange. He came to BlueYield from the AAA National Office where he served as the Vice President of Travel and Financial Services from 2007 to 2010 for this 52 million-member organization.

Preceding his tenure with AAA, Doug held executive positions with Advanta Corporation, a multi-product financial services company, MBNA Corporation, a large bank issuer of credit cards now part of Bank of America, and CIGNA, a major insurance company.

"As Executive Director of the NBPCA, I am excited to have this terrific opportunity to support an innovative and fast-growing sector of the financial services industry providing a safe, convenient and efficient means of managing, spending and transferring money for consumers, government and businesses," Bower said.

"Prepaid products help build financial inclusion. I look forward to strengthening NBPCA's success by continuing to advocate, protect and promote its key priorities of inclusion, consumer education and outreach and the benefits of different types of prepaid cards to its wide range of stakeholders," added Bower.

Each year, general purpose reloadable cards, also known as "prepaid debit cards," continue to grow in popularity among consumers as a financial choice to manage their money. A new survey conducted by GfK Research found 60% of US consumers have used a prepaid card during the past 12 months including: government benefit cards, payroll cards, student cards, general purpose reloadable cards and branded gift cards.

Consumers across generations and income groups expressed roughly a 70% satisfaction rate with prepaid cards. The survey found consumers with annual incomes greater than $100k are using prepaid cards at comparable rates to lower income earners and underbanked groups.

NBPCA members are committed to helping to shape the future of prepaid cards, an evolving payment tool that has helped countless numbers of consumers and businesses. Members of NBPCA include financial institutions, card organizations, processors, program managers, marketing and incentive companies, card distributors, law firms and others committed to promoting consumer choice and continued access to this valuable product.

In response to both the industry's rapid growth as well as that of the trade association, NBPCA's Board of Directors decided earlier this year to move the association's main office to Washington, DC. This move has greatly enhanced NBPCA's abilities to interact with Congress, regulators and third-party influencers with more immediacy and agility. NBPCA's new Executive Director and President will lead its Washington office.

About the NBPCA

The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA) is a non-profit, inter-industry trade association that supports the growth and success of network branded prepaid debit cards and represents the common interests of the many players in this new and rapidly growing payments category. For additional information visit www.NBPCA.org, or follow us on Twitter @NBPCA

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Source: Company press release.