Equity unveils prepaid cards with MasterCard

Kenya: Equity Bank Kenya has launched a prepaid card in conjunction with MasterCard that seeks to boost cash lite economy. Alongside the new prepaid card, the bank has also significantly expanded its card offering with the launch of a Campus card for the exclusive use of bonafide University and college students.

The Equity Campus card, also rolled out jointly with MasterCard, serves as an official student identification card with multiple features and applications, such as cashless fare payments, meal card, library card, campus facilities access card and a debit card all in one. Equity Bank CEO James Mwangi said the EMV compliant Equity Bank Prepaid Card has been unveiled as part of the bank's efforts to support the national cash lite economy goals.

Equity Bank, in partnership with Google, pioneered the innovation of cashless solutions for the commuter sector in Kenya by launching the BebaPay card in 2013. In the face of the new transport laws that requires that all payment cards must be interoperable, Google has advised BebaPay customers to replace their cards with the Equity Prepaid cards which are interoperable with other payment systems.