For almost two decades, UK-based SCL has systematically
established itself as a leading player in the complex world of
travel payments. SCL’s founder and MD provided EPI with insight
into the technology behind the company’s success and his view on
the significant potential for innovation in the market
Born out of bespoke development work undertaken for American
Express (Amex) in the early-1990s UK-based Stanton Consultancy
Limited (SCL) had from the start a clear focus: the automation of
payments flowing through the travel industry.
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By GlobalDataSCL has evolved with the changing pattern of payments preferences
in the travel industry, its automation services having first
concentrated on paper travelers cheques and banknotes and more
recently and increasingly prepaid travel cards. SCL’s technological
capabilities have also enabled it to make significant inroads into
the general prepaid market.
“Today prepaid accounts for half of our turnover with bank notes
and travelers cheques making up the rest,” Ray Stanton, SCL founder
and MD, told EPI.
He added that Amex remains the only major issuer of paper travelers
cheques whichare continuing to experience a steady decline in
volume each year.
At the heart of SCL’s service is UltraPoS, a system launched in
2001 capable of automating the entire life cycle of prepaid cards,
travelers cheques and foreign exchange.
Of key importance in an era of strict regulation, UltraPoS can be
readily customised to incorporate local regulatory requirements and
meets know your customer (KYC) requirements by capturing and
verifying information through links to external agencies. In
addition, UltraPoS has compliance reporting facilities, both for
customer’s own purposes and mandatory reporting to
regulators.
UltraPoS has three deployment options, explained Stanton, the most
widely used is an online application hosted on SCL’s servers.
UltraPos is also available as an intranet service hosted on the
user’s headoffice server(s) or as an application installed on one
or more desktop computers at individual branches.
Impressive user base
UltraPoS has garnered for SCL an impressive client base which
includes Amex, Commerzbank, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse,
Discover Card, Hays Travel, HSBC (UK and US), Travelex and TUI
Travel. More major names appear to be in the pipeline.
“We are talking to Visa and MasterCard,” noted Stanton.
Among SCL’s most recent successes is a major installation of
UltraPoS undertaken for UK-based TUI Travel, one of the world’s
biggest international leisure travel groups.
TUI was formed in 2007 out of the merger of First Choice Holidays
and the tourism division of German company Touristik Union
International and serves some 30 million holidaymakers
annually.
In its first major project subsequent to the merger, TUI selected
UltraPoS to replace legacy structures provided by each
organisation’s previous foreign exchange suppliers in its 860 UK
First Choice and Thomson branches. This installation, which is
fully integrated with TUI’s management information and accounting
systems, earned SCL second place in UK technology industry body the
Corporate IT Forum’s 2008 Real IT awards.
SCL followed the UltraPoS installation with development of a
MasterCard prepaid travel card programme for TUI branded the
Thomson and First Choice Travel Money Cards. For the programme SCL
partnered with UK credit information service supplier Experian
which has fully integrated its customer identity authentication
solution into the UltraPoS system.
The reloadable PIN and Chip secured cards are available in euro and
US dollars and are not subject to commission charges or purchase
fees when first obtained from TUI or reloaded. Launched in May, the
TUI prepaid travel card programme proved to be an immediate
success, said Stanton.
“Cards preordered by branches were sold out within the first week,”
he said.
New horizons
SCL has used its UltraPoS platform to build a strong presence in
the US market where it has expanded to encompass prepaid gift
cards.
“We have a good chunk of the US prepaid market,” said
Stanton.
UltraPoS has also enabled SCL to extend its reach into the
self-service market in the US where, Stanton noted, it now has a
presence in some 600 shopping malls. This, he added, includes all
of Amex’s mall channels.
Self service in the US prepaid market is made easier than in Europe
by less stringent KYC regulations, said Stanton. He explained that
when using a prepaid card vending machine all that is required is
the use of a credit card for payment and a ZIP (postal) code. No
name or specific address required.
Stanton noted that while the average value loaded onto prepaid gift
cards in self service kiosks is between $300 and $500, amounts of
up to $2,500 is not unheard of.
In total, SCL distributes between eight and 10 million prepaid
cards annually with the closing weeks of the year responsible for a
considerable portion of the total, said Stanton. The potential for
innovation in the prepaid card market is considerable, he
continued. Using the TUI programme as an example, he explained it
is quite conceivable travel insurance could be incorporated onto
the card.
While out of the country, should a cardholder need to pay for
medical expenses the amount require could be loaded onto the card
by SCL within seconds, said Stanton.
Taking the concept of innovation further, he said adding a
pre-holiday savings application to the card is also
practicable.
Another significant step would be to equip the card for contactless
payments.
“TUI operates planes, boats and tourist resorts. Contactless would
be an ideal payments solution,” said Stanton.
Expertise gained by SCL in the US places the company in a strong
position in Europe where, said Stanton, the prepaid market is
between four and five years behind the US in terms of product
development.
“We receive numerous requests to act as consultants on prepaid
programmes in the UK,” said Stanton.
Already active in the UK’s prepaid gift card market SCL is clearly
well positioned to enjoy the considerable growth anticipated in
Europe’s prepaid market.
Indicative of the potential, a study by consultancy PSE Consulting
commissioned by MasterCard in 2008 predicts that Europe’s prepaid
market will generate an annual turnover of €132 billion ($180
billion) by 2015. Of this total gifting is forecast to account for
€29.6 billion and travel €10.9 billion.
