LONDON, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair Financial Services International Plc has accumulated orders for more than a quarter of a million Prepaid Cards since it was certified as a MasterCard(R) Service provider in October 2006 and is on track to reach a million Prepaid Cards by May 2007.

Altair, having completed its acquisition of Symmetrex Inc, provides unparalleled flexibility for designing, developing, delivering and processing bespoke white label card solutions with enhanced functionality globally using MasterCard(R) and Visa networks.

"The market for Prepaid Card programs is exceptionally buoyant at the moment," says Lee Britton, Altair CEO. "Our clients identify that Altair provide them with the most comprehensive Prepaid Card program development and management service as well as providing an industry leading end-to-end clearing and settlement processing solution. We have received a steady recognition for our superior technology, outstanding service and continuous innovation."

Altair provides branded Prepaid Card solutions that are applicable to an ever increasing array of products and services within the retail and corporate environment including: Money Share, Payroll, Generic Prepaid, Teen, Travel, Lifestyle, Insurance, Virtual and Gift Cards. Altair's card applications provide a host of options to meet clients' requirements. Cards can be re-loadable or non-re-loadable, available by mail-order cards or instant issue, issued for ATM, POS (Point of Sale) and/or Internet transactions, personalised or non-personalised, etc.

"We have expanded in a controlled fashion in the USA and UK and we now see explosive growth both in the number of cards issued as well as the number countries we operate in," explained Lee Britton.

"Our product was not legacy based which gives Altair a huge advantage. We grasped early on that we needed to understand the needs of our customers and of our customers' customers. Only by understanding this can a technology company such as ours design products to fit a variety of vertical markets."

Commenting on the advantages of prepaid cards, John Bushby, General Manager, Northern Europe, MasterCard Europe, added: "Prepaid cards are simple to purchase and easy to use and they offer a broad range of consumers, including those currently unable to get debit or credit cards, the financial freedom of using a payment card.

"Consumer demand is playing an important role in fuelling the expansion in the market and we are delighted to be working in partnership with specialist prepaid card providers and issuers as they develop their products."

According to research commissioned by MasterCard(R) and conducted by PSE Consulting, prepaid cards are expected to represent 5% of total card transaction volumes and 3% of total card spending in Europe by 2010.

About Altair Financial Services International Plc Altair Financial Services International Plc, was incorporated in 2005 as a global provider of Prepaid Card solutions with enhanced functionality. The company is headquartered in London with banking and processing affiliates in UK, USA, Asia Pacific and throughout the Latin America and Caribbean regions and issues on behalf of MasterCard(R) and Visa. Altair's solutions are designed to be flexible enough to provide companies with almost any type of prepaid card functionality, including open and closed loop programs. Through its relationship with MasterCard(R) all Altair cards issued in Europe are based on Chip & PIN technology and are EMV standards compliant.

Contact Details Public: Deborah Parritt +44-(0)20-7483-0030

Contact Details Public: Deborah Parritt, +44-(0)20-7483-0030, Contact Details for Media Only: Mobile: +44-(0)7734-10048