Yuval Tal on Cross-Border Repayments in addition to Payoneer.

Cross-border payments is a hot industry. It is also highly competitive and encumbered with serious regulatory requirements. Succeeding in this space requires sound operating tactics, the capacity to conform to changing markets and a strong understanding of myriad regulations. Payoneer, a business funded and managed by Yuval Tal, has been developing prepaid bank card solutions for niche cross-border payments markets for over six years. Based on Tal, "Providing international payments, especially under $10K, in a cost effective manner is extremely tricky and complicated." While companies like PayPal and Moneybookers have meaningful cross-border capabilities, Payoneer has demonstrated technologies which make it possible for a much broader band of users for international payments.

During its six year operating history, the company has morphed in many ways to meet changing market demands. Payoneer implemented a solid differentiation strategy by utilizing prepaid debit cards to facilitate the movement of funds across national borders. Further differentiation was accomplished by targeting niche industries fighting these kind of payments. And although there is competition, Tal implies that, "the real challenges aren't competitive, but are things such as combating fraud and mitigating other risks."

Prepaid debit cards are everywhere. A survey published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston in 2009 reported that approximately thirty three percent of consumers possessed some form of prepaid debit card. Prepaid debit cards include a varied band of payment instruments which range from gift cards to phone cards to electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card, etc. A huge number of these ubiquitous instruments are those issued through the major credit card brands: Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express® and Discover® ;.Utilization of these branded cards has been growing quickly, and due to recent legislation, they're poised to grow further and at a better rate.

In line with the Mercator Advisory Group, consumers loaded over $60 billion dollars onto branded prepaid debit cards in 2008, almost a 50% increase within the last year. These cards, although carrying these brands, are now issued by a huge selection of banks and their independent 3rd party partners. Payoneer is one of these 3rd party companies.

capitalized on the increasing trend towards globalized outsourcing in the IT industry. Particularly, he saw that many companies were outsourcing small jobs to freelancers and micro-companies. Mr. Tal also noticed that these freelancers found it difficult to obtain paid. Sending checks, as an example, took quite a long time -- and an even longer time to clear. Cash was from the question, and wire transfers were prohibitively expensive. Tal developed a method to cater to the marketplace and "payout processing" was born. Workers could now be paid quickly, and receives a commission within their local currency through ATMs. Freelance staffing companies like oDesk, Elance and guru now use Payoneer pre-paid cards to pay their workers worldwide.  free payoneer mastercard