(Courtesy of IIR’s Prepaid Expo blog)
Monday, January 31, 2011
To listen to the podcast interview: Click Here
The bad news: The U.S. prepaid and stored value industry is definitely a candidate for collateral damage in Washington’s crusade to reform the financial services industry.
The good news: We’re popular with both retailers and consumers; we have Congressional sympathizers on both sides of the aisle; and prepaid is among a handful of financial services models that satisfies the post-Great Recession imperative of living within one’s means.
Episode Two of IIR’s “Progress in Prepaid” podcast interview series features Joi Sheffield, president of Washington, DC-based Sheffield Brothers, and the government relations strategist for the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA).
According to Sheffield, it would be “awfully surprising” if the prepaid industry escaped ongoing regulatory scrutiny of financial services in 2011.
But Sheffield also noted that despite the colossal Kardashian Kard blunder, the prepaid industry has generally managed to maintain the public’s trust – and inferentially, legislators’ trust – by good overall conduct and responsible corporate citizenship.
Sheffield also noted that mid-term election shifts in the balance of power favoring Republicans – particularly in the House – might usher in a “friendlier climate and environment for the banking industry.”
But a larger question looms: how will the Treasury Department’s new Bureau of Consumer Protection treat prepaid?
Editor’s note: Representatives from the NBPCA will be featured on panels at IIR’s 2011 Prepaid Expo – the world’s largest meeting for prepaid industry professionals in both closed- and open-loop markets – March 6-9 in Orlando, FL. Register today!
About Joi Sheffield
As Government Relations Strategist for the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association (NBPCA), Joi Sheffield is responsible for managing the Government Relations Working Group which conducts outreach on behalf of NBPCA members in matters of legislation, regulation, and law enforcement.
Ms. Sheffield is a distinguished attorney with 17 years of experience managing banking and finance issues on Capitol Hill and with regulatory bodies. She is also the founder of Sheffield Brothers, a Government Relations and Corporate Strategy consulting firm founded in November 2006. The firm represents clients on financial services and insurance-related issues before the U.S. Congress and the Administration. Prior to founding Sheffield Brothers, Ms. Sheffield served as Banking Counsel and Minority Staff Director for United States Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota, then Ranking Member of the Financial Institutions Subcommittee of Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
About the Author
Marc Dresner is an IIR USA communication lead with a background in trade journalism and marketing. He is the former executive editor of Research Business Report, a confidential newsletter for the marketing research and consumer insights industry. He may be reached at mdresner@iirusa.com
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