As we approach 2023 we should not forget to look back on what a year 2022 has been! As the world opened up post-pandemic and unfortunate new hardships arose around the world, at Recharge we have remained focused on bringing branded prepaid payments to consumers anywhere, at any time! Ensuring that they can be in charge of how they pay for the brands, goods and services they love.
Let's look back at some of our top news highlights:
The year kicked off with Freddy Dijkman joining as our new CFO, a valuable team addition as we continue our international acceleration, which is gaining more momentum each day. We expanded into Australia, bringing our Pay Now Buy Later philosophy to the country where buy now, pay later (BNPL) has truly exploded. With a third of shoppers reporting that their loans have become unmanageable with BNPL credit, demonstrating a more responsible way to spend has never been more critical.
Our CEO Günther Vogelpoel shared in Fintech magazine exactly why ‘Pay Now, Buy Later’ makes more sense than ever in a cost of living crisis, alongside a new move by Klarna to share data on whether UK residents paid off an instalment loan to credit reference agencies (CRAs) – which can seriously impact credit scores. Instead, PNBL is a smarter approach to personal money management, helping consumers now and in the future.
On that note, Günther also wrote an opinion piece for Global Banking and Finance on how consumers are taking control of their finances through new payment options as inflation rises to its highest level in 30 years, outpacing wage and benefit increases and further exacerbated by tax rises. In Tech Funding News he expanded further, claiming that “PNBL enables an approach to personal finance where consumers only spend what they have. This provides a much more robust financial foundation for households, parents, and the younger generations, which is especially important as economic times become increasingly challenging.”
To better support our global expansion, we proudly saw Martine Tiemersma become our Chief of Staff. Martine has worked with Recharge for over five years in various positions and started when we were a small team of only 25 people. Martine is now leading critical company-sponsored cross-functional initiatives whilst driving organisational effectiveness and company-wide alignment.
Our international expansion keeps picking up speed with the launch of our one-stop-shop global marketplace, which gained international coverage in top industry publications like PYMNTS, The Paypers and local news leaders like Zawya in the Middle East. Hosting over 13,000 products and available in 180 countries, Recharge continues to bring the broadest possible choice to a massive range of consumers worldwide while helping people to protect their details online.
These days, we enable the three million people who use our platform, to process over $500 million of payments annually. That is no small feat, and when Günther spoke with Fintech Magazine about branded payments, he proudly shared his belief that one core element of his role is to build a true employee-focused and caring environment to ensure all of our Rechargers can deliver their very best.
Finally, to close off the year, we reflected on the rise of the prepaid card over the past five decades. On the 50th anniversary of the first appearance of the prepaid card, we looked at the enduring popularity of this payment method as it reaches a new audience through digital innovation and mobile phones.
All in all, it has been an inspiring year at Recharge. One full of incredible developments that were only been made possible because of our fantastic team, partners and customers. As we continue to help consumers worldwide, we are excited to see what will come next in 2023.
Until then, Happy New Year and thanks for your continued support! 🎉
