A British company offering a multicurrency prepaid card is looking for local partners for co-branding opportunities.
Centtrip Card Ltd was set up by three British entrepreneurs with years of experience in foreign exchange.
“They were competing with banks for international payments by offering better rates of exchange. The natural thing to do was to offer cards to the executives of these companies, who travel extensively, which would solve their foreign currency headaches,” business development manager Freddy Greenish said.
The company partnered with MasterCard, and the Centtrip card was launched a few months ago, offering 14 currencies with no forex transaction fees – the first of its kind.
“Banks would normally have a spread of three to six per cent between buying and selling rates, so this represents quite a significant saving. The take-up has been very positive, especially among people from the sports and entertainment world who travel all the time,” he explained.
The card offers 14 currencies, from dollar to yen, and from rand to krona, but does not yet include the BRIC currencies. However, new currencies are constantly being considered by MasterCard, he confirmed.
The cards are available at various levels, ranging from £50 for a card with a £10,000 annual limit, to £500 for a £100,000 limit.
The account can be managed via a smartphone app or online, allowing top-ups as required on the move. There is a flat fee of £1.60 (€2)for ATM withdrawals, and a two per cent currency conversion fee for any currencies not provided for by the card.
“Malta has a huge market for us as the island is attracting so many high net worth individuals and has so many corporates whose executives travel extensively,” Mr Greenish said.
“We are talking to airline companies, tour operators and so on, as we believe that co-branding could be a very interesting proposition for them in terms of both revenue generation and marketing.”
Centtrip plans various other benefits in due course.