Prepaid to top 500 billion by Monday

500 billion what's you ask?

Well dollars of course.

The
reason this crops up today is that fellow financial blogger - that's
blogger, no 'u' in there in case you misread - Dave Birch of Consult
Hyperion has given airing in his latest posting to the prepaid forecasts from Aite Group.

Aite
reckon that American prepaid card spending was $64 billion in 2004
compared with $113 billion forecasted for this year and $178 billion by
2010.  Branded cards will have 44% of the market by 2010 versus 20% in
2004, with $32 billion spent on branded cards this year rising to $79
billion by 2010 (CAGR 36%, compared to the 65% CAGR). Of this, almost
two-thirds of the volume comes through government and corporate cards.

Meantime, PSE in the UK forecast last year
that European prepaid would be worth €75 billion by 2010.  This
forecast included about half the volume coming through government
agencies and corporates, and was increased by MasterCard a forecast of
€85 billion by 2010 this year. 

Based upon current €:$ exchange
rates of €1 being worth $1.37 - yes, one point three seven dollars -
that's almost $120 billion in Europe alone by 2010. 

OK, so $178 billion in the USA, $120 billion in Europe - must be about $500 billion globally therefore, at least, by 2010.

So there's my forecast.

Prepaid spending will top $500 billion globally by Monday 4th January, 2010.

Now I've written about this before and discovered that the demographics show that prepaid cards appeal mainly to young, single guys who want to download without giving away their bank details.

Now what would I want to download anonymously as a young, testosterone-charged male?

Can't think ...