Alliance Payment Services Ltd has partnered with MasterCard to provide prepaid cards for customers using their MoneyGram services.

The agreement, which took place at Courtyard Marriott in Kingston yesterday, is targeted specifically at the unbanked.

Alliance Prepaid MasterCard will enable users to access services such as mobile bill payment, electronic phone top ups, payment at point-of-sale devices, and transferring funds between cards. Additionally, Alliance MoneyGram remittance services will also load customer remittances to the card on visit to a participating location, a press release from the company said.

Alliance Payment Services is the first non-bank entity to obtain authorisation from the Bank of Jamaica to issue a prepaid card in Jamaica. The company is an associate of Alliance Financial Services Ltd which is an agent for MoneyGram and has over 50 subagents islandwide.

“We are extremely proud to be able to provide a solution for a large segment of the Jamaican society who do not have access to bank accounts, debit or credit cards. In an environment which is becoming less reliant on cash and more dominated by digital and mobile payments, our prepaid card holders will be well equipped to cope with these changes,” said Peter Chin, president of Alliance.