O2 and NatWest launch pre-paid Visa card

by Gill Montia

Story link: O2 and NatWest launch pre-paid Visa card

O2 has announced the launch of a Visa pre-paid cash-card service.

The mobile phone operator, which is part of the Telefonica group, has joined forces with NatWest to provide the cards, which can be loaded online or at certain retail outlets.

They will be useable at any outlet that already accepts Visa debit cards and for cash withdrawals at ATMs, although no form of overdraft facility is available.

Customers will be kept updated on their balances with regular SMS text alerts.

The cards will be in circulation from the beginning of August at no charge to O2 customers, including the pay-as-you-go variety, as long as they top up regularly.

The launch marks O2’s entry into the UK’s personal finance market and the firm says that further products are planned.

According to O2, the mobile payments market could embrace up to 110 million European users by 2014, in a market worth $600 billion.