TWO Isle of Man business partners have launched a new ‘pre-paid’ card which they say will be of enormous benefit to corprate service providers in the island
Nick Edwards and David Robbins, directors of Global Holdings International think they are on to a winner with the cards designed specifically for the island.
They say they have already started issuing cards and have a ‘raft of meetings’ already lined up with corporate service providers here.
The cards are useful for clients of csps such as yacht crews and hauliers who need handy cash while travelling abroad.
They can also help with payroll problems.
Nick said: ‘We live in the Isle of Man and historically we have always done our business off the island dealing with professional intermediaries and jurisdictions across the world promoting investment products and financial services to them which they then take to their clients.
‘During the course of last year we had meetings with some local corporate service providers in the island just to try and find out a bit more about what they do and the sorts of services they offer to their clients. A common theme during the discussions was the fact that they had used pre-paid cards previously and for whatever reasons they were not happy with them.
‘So we started drilling down a bit deeper to find out what they were looking for, ie their perfect pre-paid card, and did some research and then we went away and looked for a pre-paid card provider who would offer the sort of facility that they were looking for.
‘We had various discussions with card providers. We wanted a full solution.’
Late last year the two men had in depth discussions with a UK card provider and have now launched a card specific to the Isle of Man.
Mr Robbins said: ‘We wanted to create a corporate card.
‘It can be used for just about anything.’
He said it can work for salary oayments. For instance the crew of a yacht or cruise liner could be paid through the cards rather than individual bank transfers.
‘If you take on four new crew workers and they are transient workers who find it difficult to get a bank account. You can give them a pre-paid card which will help enormusly.’
Air line pilots and hauliers who go across Europe and need expenses for fuel and accommodation could also benefit.
And the client companies could always keep well on track with the movement of their money.
Mr Edwards and Mr Robbins added that companies could also benefit from the prestioge of having their pre-paid cards branded with the company name alongside that of Mastercard.
‘You could use it for things like huge international life companies who make international payments to clients’, said Mr Robbins.
‘You could put together a programme for an international life company so they could offer it it to their clients as a value added benefit.
‘Instead of waiting three days for a transfer to arrive in their bank account along with a recipents fee. With a prepaid card what you send is what you get and it’s there in seconds.’
‘You don’t have to wait three days.
Mr Edwards added: ‘Previously the standard load limit was set at around £5,000 which from our investigations and research was clearly not enough. The cards we now offer have a maximum load limit of £15,000 sterling , £15,000 euro or 15,000 dollars.’
Asked about security the partners said the cards have the company name on them and not individuals. So people working abroad in sensitive areas would not be identified if a card fell into the wrong hands.
Mr Edwards and Mr Robbins said there had been a ‘stackloadof interest’ in the island from corporate service providers.
Mr Edwards said: ‘We have meetings with people and we have had orders for cards from corporate service providers who have discussed it with clients and they want them.
‘It’s corporate service providers as the agreement with the card issuer is that that they will be issued on a KYB (Know Your Business) basis and that they are licensed (businesses) in the Isle of Man.
‘We wanted a progranme specific to the Isle of Man and the card issuer takes comfort from the robust regulatory standards in place here.’
Global Holdings International has been trading for about 12 years internationally in the world of investments and financial services and both directors say they are very excited about the launch of the pre-paid cards.
Mr Robbins told Business News: ‘Corporate service providers here are forging ahead with business across the world and to place such as China and Russia and money is flowing here. We said to ourselves that a simple facility like this (corporate pre-paid cards) can add a huge value to a corporate service group.’
Asked what they get out of the deal the business partners said they charge a ‘token administration charge.’
At present they are focusing on the Isle of Man but in the future they may expand to launching other corporate cards for other jurisdictions.
If people are interteted they can contact info@globalholdings-int.com
The website is www.globalholdings-int.com