The Bancorp Releases Finetics™ Studio Interview Series: “Special Focus on Prepaid”

The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:TBBK), today announces the release of its next Finetics™ Studio interview series: “Special Focus on Prepaid” featuring Talbott Roche, President, Blackhawk Network; Peter Read, President, Peoples Card Services; Kenneth M. Goins, Jr., Vice Chairman, Brightwell Payments; Brad Fauss, President and CEO, Network Branded Prepaid Card Association; Stefan Happ, Executive Vice President, Global Prepaid and Alternative Payments, American Express; Suresh Vaghjiani, Executive Vice President, Global Processing Services (GPS); and Jeremy Kuiper, Managing Director, Payment Solutions, The Bancorp.

Filmed from the Money20/20 show floor, the videos focus exclusively on the prepaid industry including changing usage trends, regulatory challenges, growing access and financial inclusion as well as predictions for the future of prepaid.

“I would say that prepaid has almost been the best kept secret in the industry,” said Vaghjiani. “What’s happening now, is that the benefits of prepaid are becoming more mainstream and as customers distrust their banks, particularly in Europe, it’s the perfect time to disrupt the banking sector.”

The shift to digital was a common thread throughout many of the conversations around prepaid, including Roche’s. She also highlighted the B2B opportunities within the space.

“Digital opened our eyes to the fact that there is a $40 billion addressable market for gift cards to be used in the B2B space as rewards and incentives, and that’s the market where the adoption rate for digital solutions is really growing,” explained Roche.

Though prepaid options have been around for quite some time, it was widely noted by Finetics™ Studio participants that innovation and adoption does not come without its challenges.

“One of the biggest challenges with prepaid is a lack of understanding,” said Kuiper. “As it relates to general purpose reloadable cards, consumers don’t all really understand that those prepaid cards really are equal to a debit card in many ways from a functionality and utilization capability.”

The release of these videos supports The Bancorp’s Finetics™ Studio video series, which features exclusive, one-on-one conversations with more than 30 of the financial services industry’s most influential and innovative executives, launched late last year.

The interviews, conducted by Sarah Gill, senior reporter with PaymentEye, cover topics ranging from the future of payments innovation to financial inclusion and the customer experience to regulation and fraud and will be released on The Bancorp’s fineticsblog.comthroughout early 2016.

Finetics™ Studio participants include the following executives:

• Rene Lacerte, CEO and Founder, Bill.com
• Talbott Roche, President, Blackhawk Network
• Ben Katz, CEO and Founder, Card.com
• Robert Carr, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Heartland Payment Systems
• Brent Warrington, CEO, Hyperwallet
• Lars Sandtorv, CEO, MeaWallet
• Hamed Shahbazi, CEO, TIO Networks
• Stefan Happ, Executive Vice President, Global Prepaid and Alternative Payments, American Express
• Janet O. Estep, CEO, NACHA—The Electronic Payments Association
• Brad Fauss, President and CEO, Network Branded Prepaid Card Association
• Tony Craddock, Director General, Emerging Payments Association
• Cherian Abraham, Mobile Payments & Commerce, Experian Plc.
• Dan Rosen, Founder and General Partner, Commerce Ventures
• Suresh Vaghjiani, Executive Vice President, Global Processing Services (GPS)
• Barrie VanBrackle, Partner and Payments Specialist, Manatt, Phelps and Phillips
• Marilyn Bochicchio, CEO and Founder, Hidden Brain
• Chris Byrd, Executive Vice President–Healthcare Operations Officer, Evolution1
• Rahul Gupta, Group President, Billing and Payments, Fiserv
• Julie Conroy, Research Director, Aite Group
• Peter Read, President, Peoples Card Services

• Kenneth M. Goins, Jr., Vice Chairman, Brightwell Payments
• Render Dahiya, CEO, Arroweye Solutions
• Sean Rodriguez, Faster Payments Strategy Leader and Senior Vice President, Federal Reserve System
• Steve Kirsch, CEO, Token
• Ryan Caldwell, Founder and CEO, MX
• Anil Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman, Money20/20
• Pat Patel, Content Director, Money20/20 Europe
• Pawneet Abramowski, Senior Vice President, Director AML & Sanctions Risk Management, The Bancorp
• Jeremy Kuiper, Managing Director, Payment Solutions, The Bancorp
• Frank Mastrangelo, Technologist in Residence, The Bancorp
• Matt Carberry, Vice President Business Development, Payments, The Bancorp
• Gail Ball, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, The Bancorp
• Pete Chiccino, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, The Bancorp
• Kriya Patel, Managing Director, Payment Solutions, Europe, The Bancorp
• Charles Crawford, Senior Vice President, Payments Acceptance, The Bancorp

About The Bancorp

With operations in the US and Europe, The Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBBK) is dedicated to serving the unique needs of non-bank financial service companies, ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to those on the Fortune 500. The company’s chief financial institution, The Bancorp Bank (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender), has been repeatedly recognized in the payments industry as the Top Issuer of Prepaid Cards (US), a top merchant sponsor bank, and a top ACH originator. Specialized lending distinctions include National Preferred SBA Lender, a leading provider of securities-backed lines of credit, and one of the few bank-owned commercial leasing groups in the nation. thebancorp.com.

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