Europe’s Largest Retailer Partners with Rêv Worldwide to Offer Romania’s First Retail Prepaid Card

BUCHAREST, Romania and AUSTIN, TX, Dec. 27, 2010 – Romanians can now find the Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card in the cash lanes of all 23 Carrefour hypermarkets in the country through a partnership between the retailer – Europe’s largest – and Rêv Worldwide. Carrefour is the first retailer in Romania to sell and reload prepaid cards. The newest offering in the retailer’s broad range of financial products and services, the Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card brings Romanian consumers the freedom and security of spending with plastic and the ability to send money domestically or check balances with a simple text message, no bank account or credit check required.

“Carrefour brings customers ‘everything under one roof’ and that approach extends to making it easy for our customers to manage their money,” said Andreea Mihai, marketing director, Carrefour Romania. “With the Carrefour prepaid card, we’re giving our customers a convenient and widely available cash alternative while gaining a simple platform for extending card-based privileges and special offers to more of our customers.”

Carrefour prepaid cardholders can make purchases in locations or withdraw cash from ATMs anywhere in the world displaying the MasterCard logo, over 30 million outlets worldwide that include Carrefour hypermarkets and other retailers, restaurants, drugstores, online merchants and gas stations. Because the card is prepaid, it carries no risk of overspending, and cardholders can manage their accounts around the clock online at www.carrefourprepaid.ro and contact customer service any time toll-free at 0800 080 333.

“With Carrefour’s brand and extensive retail presence and MasterCard’s trusted reputation, we’re confident prepaid cards will succeed in Romania as they have elsewhere in the world,” said Denisa Mateescu, General Manager MasterCard Europe, Romania and the Balkan Region.

In Romania, Carrefour operates 23 hypermarkets and 29 supermarkets. Financial products and services available in Carrefour hypermarkets include the Carrefour MasterCard Credit card; consumer loans; MoneyGram money transfer; bill pay; mobile top-ups for operators including Orange, Vodafone, Cosmote and Zapp; and home, travel and other insurance products from Otto Broker.

Rêv Worldwide developed, promotes and provides the distribution and processing platform for the Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card. Through a global agreement with MPOWER Mobile, a sister company, Rêv Worldwide powers the card’s mobile capabilities.

“Broad retail availability of cash alternatives is critical to meeting the growing demand for financial services in places like Romania with large cash-based populations, and Carrefour is the ultimate retail outlet,” said John Mitchell, chief executive officer of Rêv Worldwide, Europe. “The Carrefour prepaid card gives consumers in Romania, no matter their banking or credit history, the freedom to manage their money whenever and wherever is most convenient for them.”

Pricing and Enrollment
The Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card is now available for 10 RON in all 23 Carrefour hypermarkets to any resident with valid identification.

Carrefour customers can buy and load cash on the Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card directly from the cash registers in all Carrefour hypermarkets. Upon purchasing a new card, customers pick up a temporary card from the customer service center in minutes and receive a personalized card by mail in 7 to 10 days.

For more information on the Carrefour MasterCard Prepaid Card, please visit www.carrefourprepaid.ro.