VRL: Cards International Awards 2011 – Winners Announced

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cards International, leading provider of analysis, insight and intelligence to cards, payments and consumer finance professionals, has today announced the winners for its Cards International Awards 2011.

“We are seeing developments in all areas of cards and payments, including mobile payments, and there is a lot of innovation taking place. The winners selected are all contributing to this growth, challenging the market and pushing forward in new and interesting ways to meet customer needs.”

The Editor’s Award 2011 for Consumer Focus was given to online financial management solutions provider eWise, which has demonstrated outstanding customer focus with the launch of a new mobile app that could be a game-changer in the field of mobile commerce. BPNA MasterCard Platinum XTRA Credit Card won the Best New Credit Card category with its enhanced rewards scheme designed for consumers who use credit products in a responsible manner, while Capital and Credit Merchant Bank of Jamaica, one of the only three commercial banks to have launched its own debit card in Jamaica, won the Best New Debit Card Award.

Best Prepaid Product went to joint winners Regalocard and Aktif38 City Card, while the First National Bank of Omaha and Poste Italiane jointly won Best New Co-Branded, Affinity or Loyalty Product. Best Innovation or Cross Industry Innovation was awarded to Amex/SAP NetWeaver where Amex has extended the use of loyalty points to buy limited edition virtual goods as well as physical and virtual games cards from Zynga.

Best Commercial Credit Card Issuer was awarded to Citi for its overall market position and Best Card Processor of the Year went jointly to FirstData, for the development and extension of its TransArmor payment processing solution, and SIA Group for their recently revised business strategy. Evalon won Merchant Acquirer of the Year for its joint venture with Credicard. Most Promising New Entrant was given to Facebook Credits who in a matter of months has launched its own virtual payments facility, and is tapping into the fast growing social gaming market. And finally, the winner of the Merger or Acquisition of the Year Award was MasterCard, for their acquisition of Travelex Prepaid.

James Ratcliff, group editor, cards and payments, noted: “We are seeing developments in all areas of cards and payments, including mobile payments, and there is a lot of innovation taking place. The winners selected are all contributing to this growth, challenging the market and pushing forward in new and interesting ways to meet customer needs.”

For more details on the winners and finalists, visit http://www.vrl-financial-news.com/cpeurope2011.