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Wirecard, the second-largest payments processor in Europe, is buying Citigroup's institutional prepaid cards division for an undisclosed sum. The prepaid market continues to grow exponentially with especially strong demand from millennials; in 2003, prepaid cards accounted for $20b and is now estimated to be $317b this year.
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Prepaid cards were originally targeted at consumers with minimal access to financing or bank accounts. However, the appeal of these cards has broadened, attracting traditional banking customers as well. This is because the formula behind prepaid cards resonates with the growing population of debt-averse consumers — namely, millennials and Gen Xers — who recently suffered through the Great Recession.
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