British Red Cross with support from Paysafe, Bankable & Visa offers Visa prepaid cards in emergencies

By Pavithra R

The British Red Cross has announced a new partnership with banking-as-a-service provider Bankable and specialized payments platform Paysafe to transform its cash assistance approach with new prepaid cards during emergencies.

Till now, the British Red Cross relied on cash assistance to deliver financial aid during emergencies to make sure that recipients can access the goods and services they need. Emergencies, irrespective of whether localized such as a house fire or national or international such as a health pandemic, can have a significant economic impact on communities. The charity organization is now giving families and individuals in emergency with access to prepaid Visa cards via on-the-ground support workers, instead of relying on cash.

“By allowing families and individuals to use prepaid cards in the event of an emergency we are able to provide a safe, discrete and empowering way to distribute money to those in crisis. We now operate our Cash Assistance programme with a 24-hour support team. Working with Bankable, Paysafe and Visa we’ve been able to transform our approach to cash assistance and the way we provide funds to those in need in emergency situations. With this programme in place, we have been able to respond with agility and action throughout our COVID-19 response,” said Jon Pewtner, UK Operations Cash Manager at the British Red Cross.

The new approach came in light of the current COVID-19 outbreak and emphasis on social distancing. With many media reporting chances of virus spread through cash, a shift in cash usage was unavoidable. According to Paysafe research conducted in April 2020, 53% of Brits are worried about handling currency following the pandemic outbreak, with 51% saying they planned to minimize their long term use of cash due to health and safety concerns.

The British Red Cross’ new Bankable-branded prepaid Visa cards are issued by Paysafe and can be used by recipients at any point of sale (POS) or ATM that accepts Visa. The cards are pre-loaded with an amount defined by the charity and have a unique identification number.

“We’re proud to be supporting the British Red Cross in transforming their financial services and the provision of real-time funds to those in need. This is just one great example of the amazing work they do in supporting the nation in the event of a crisis,” said Eric Mouilleron, Founder & CEO of Bankable.

“We’re seeing many innovative and specialised uses of prepaid cards, but this example is particularly powerful. We’re delighted to play a role in the British Red Cross’ transformation of its Cash Assistance programme,” said Lorenzo Pellegrino, CEO of Skrill, NETELLER, and Income Access at Paysafe.