Ecount News & Press Releases

Citi Acquisition in Prepaid Cards

Citigroup has agreed to buy Ecount, a privately held provider of prepaid cards, expanding its presence in the fastest-growing part of the payment industry, according to bank officials.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to be announced today, were not disclosed.

Ecount will be Citigroup's latest purchase in the last few months aimed at improving the company's sluggish performance. Charles O. Prince III, Citigroup's chairman and chief executive, is under pressure from investors to reverse years of disappointing results.

Ecount, a nine-year-old company based near Philadelphia, has developed a prepaid rewards card program that has about 1,000 corporate customers. With the acquisition, Citigroup's Global Transaction Services group plans to offer the cards to its more than 40,000 corporate and government clients.

Transaction growth in prepaid cards is expected to rise more than 50 percent this year, according to the Nilson Report, a newsletter for the payments industry. Government agencies use the cards to dispense welfare payments, and many companies use them to reimburse employees or pay people who do not have bank accounts.