April 7, 2014 (Mon): MasterCard reported its prepaid card business across Asia/Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) increased 40 percent in gross dollar volume (GDV) in 2013 compared with 2012. According to MasterCard, this strong growth was fuelled in part by significant partnerships announced over the last couple of years in the region including Air New Zealand’s OneSmart dual-faced loyalty and prepaid card, the Qantas Frequent Flyer MasterCard prepaid card, Rakuten Virtual Prepaid MasterCard card and MasterCard-branded National Identity Smart Cards with the Nigerian government.
