InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions'™ DirectSpend® Named Best Payments Innovation at the 2013 Prepaid & Payments Awards Canada

FENTON, Mo., July 1, 2013 /CNW/ - The Prepaid & Payments Awards Canada has chosen InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions'™ DirectSpend® process as the 2013 Best Payments Innovation. The awards ceremony, hosted by Payments eXchange, inspires and celebrates the highest caliber of achievement, while building recognition of prepaid and payments throughout Canada and the rest of the world.

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DirectSpend, InteliSpend's patented merchant acceptance process, was used to launch the MAX Visa® Prepaid Card in June 2012. Companies seeking a highly effective employee incentive (service anniversary, employee rewards and recognition, safety programs, sales incentives) or a consumer incentive (gift with purchase, sweepstakes, loyalty) can obtain a DirectSpend solution either through InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions (located in Mississauga, Ontario) or through a variety of partners. The redemption options differ depending upon the DirectSpend product they select: custom, built specifically to reflect the sponsoring company's choice of merchants, or the MAX Card, welcome at more than 100 popular retailers, restaurants and ticket outlets in Canada.

"We're really excited about offering our clients this innovative solution that enables their prepaid reward to deliver a strategic, thought-out experience that's sure to drive better results for uses such as employee recognition, service anniversaries and safety programs," Jim Menadier, InteliSpend President, said.

DirectSpend was selected by an independent panel of experts who scored the entries in each of 11 categories.

"This event was created to celebrate all the great initiatives, innovations, collaborative efforts and exceptional individual and team efforts that have been undertaken over the past year in gift and prepaid and payments," said Dave Hunt, President of Prepaid eXchange Canada. "From the quality of the entries, the talk on the street, and the announcement of each of the award recipients at the Gala, we had a lot to celebrate within the PX Community."

There are a lot of definitions for "custom" in the prepaid industry, but InteliSpend's definition is true to the dictionary thanks to a highly flexible product platform. It allows clients and partners to customize everything or just one thing about their prepaid solution, with build-your-own card materials and a multitude of other card features. The ultimate customization from InteliSpend is the DirectSpend process, opening up strategic, economic and experiential opportunities clients can't get any other way. The strategic benefit allows clients and partners to determine where cards can be redeemed (filter out competitors or categories, steer spending to partners or themselves, or select the pre-built MAX Visa Prepaid Card to ensure the experience is memorable). The economic benefit means more rewards, more participants, and more power for limited budgets due to the merchant-funded discount inherent in DirectSpend.

For the recipient, the main benefit of receiving a DirectSpend incentive is the ability to enjoy guilt-free indulgence – a memorable experience without concern that they "should be doing something practical" with the reward.

About InteliSpend: InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions, LLC, an independent entity within Maritz Holdings, Inc., is an issuer of Discover®-branded prepaid products, a reseller of American Express®-branded prepaid products and a program manager for MasterCard and Visa. InteliSpend provides businesses with prepaid solutions, including prepaid cards, online reward management technology, and program management. Its products address a broad array of applications, such as employee reward and recognition, sales incentives, expense management, and consumer promotions. InteliSpend is headquartered in Fenton, MO, and is a licensee of U.S. Patents 5,689,100 and 5,956,695 and Canadian Patent 2,215,969. Visa prepaid cards are issued by Peoples Trust Company pursuant to a license by Visa Inc. For more information, visit intelispend.com or call 888.234.7725.

About the PX Prepaid & Payments Awards Canada Payments eXchange Prepaid & Payments Awards is an annual black tie gala held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Each year, following the PX Retreat, the PX Community comes together to celebrate innovation, best practice and achievement in all aspects of the gift, prepaid and payments industry.

About Payments eXchange Incubated in 2008, originally as an annual conference, in Toronto, Prepaid Exchange Canada was born in March 2011, as the Domestic (Local) Exchange for Global Prepaid Exchange (now GX) of the UK. Effectively, we are the feet on the ground to bring our industry together with greater regularity, precise focus on the Canadian landscape and to drive adoption of our respective prepaid and payments related products and services.

Our responsibility is to engage and grow our Community, where we have a respected platform to stimulate and educate consumers, regulators and stakeholders on best practices, trends, challenges and opportunities. To promote excellent relations and build superior relationships, domestically and globally. To expand our stakeholder service capabilities, functionality and engagement through technology, innovation, security and interoperability, so that we may ultimately increase the adoption of our products and services by citizens, organizations and governments. Our well established dynamic and influential Community of thought-leaders, industry and product shapers are comprised of companies doing business here and others who intend to do business here, in Canada.

SOURCE: InteliSpend Prepaid Solutions

Dave Hunt, Chairman, Payments eXchange, Direct: 905 602-0478 x227; Mobile: [phone] [email protected], Awards Information: PaymentseXchange.ca/Awards, or Andrea Sanders, Director Marketing Communications, 636.226.2170

http://www.intelispend.com

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