Michael Lafferty

Chairman, Lafferty Group & Co-Founder, PIF, UK  

Michael founded Lafferty Group in 1981 when he left the Financial Times of London, where he had been responsible for the coverage of the banking industry having previously worked on the paper's LEX team, the City Desk and been accountancy correspondent.

Lafferty Group has come to occupy a preeminent position in the international financial services industry - the recognised global retail banking, cards and payments, e-money and wealth management specialists - providing the industry with research, intelligence, conferences, education and Councils. OMFIF, a joint venture between Lafferty Group and David Marsh, provides similar services to central banks and sovereign wealth funds worldwide.

Michael is recognised internationally as an expert in the retail banking and cards business and his long-term clients include American Express, ABSA, Cetelem, Citibank, CTT Correios, Dah Sing Bank, Deutsche Bank, Discover, GE, Poste Italiane, FDR, FNB, MasterCard Worldwide, NETS, Visa International, Westpac, TSYS, The Post Office, ING, South African Post Office, UBA, Diamond Bank, Oceanic Bank, Millennium BCP, Mashreq, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Samba, CSOB, Western Union, Woolworths Financial Services and SIA-SSB.

Michael Mueller

CEO & Founder, paysafecard.com, Wertkarten AG, Austria

Michael is the Group CEO and Co-Founder of paysafecard.com, Wertkarten AG, A nine year pioneer of prepaid in Europe, Michael launched Europe's first ever prepaid voucher for payments online in 2000. His vision and leadership skills enabled the group to launch paysafecard in 25 countries across Europe to-date, with further expansion due in 2010.

Michael is driving forward to increase the awareness and benefits of prepaid and ensure that the industry maintains a positive reputation through the development of best practices. paysafecard has offices in London, Bern and Buenos Aires. Michael directs all aspects of the business from paysafecard headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

Previously Michael held various posts within the coporate finance division of UBS in Zurich and Lausanne focusing on Mergers & Acquistion mandates and IPO deals. He was a key player in the largest Mergers & Acquisition transaction in the European utility industry in the 1987 sale of GASAG for DEM 1.4 billion.

Mike Smith

Director, Raphaels Bank, UK 

Mike is a Board Director at Raphaels Bank where he is responsible for the Card Services division, which he has grown from scratch to being the second largest UK provider of open-loop prepaid cards, with a rapidly expanding European business. 

Mike joined the Lenlyn Group of companies including Raphaels Bank, International Currency Exchange, ICE Direct and Southern Finance as Group Director of Marketing and Strategy in November 2005. He is also responsible for the Bank's ATM estate which he launched in 2007and which now has 150 highly profitable multi-currency machines. 

Previously Mike was Head of Marketing in the Post Office's Financial Services joint venture with Bank of Ireland, from its launch, moving there from Head of Banking at the Post Office where he helped launch the Universal Banking project. 

Mike held several senior positions at NatWest spanning a successful 18 year history, including Head of Personal Customer Marketing for the Retail Bank and Head of Sales in Cards Commercial Development and Current Account Product Manager.   

Chris Reddish

Chairman & Co-Founder, PIF, UK

Chris Reddish was elected Chair of the Prepaid International Forum in March 2008. Prepaid International Forum (PIF) is a not-for-profit trade association established to represent all parties participating on a commercial basis in the prepaid economy. 
It is dedicated to the progression of prepaid commerce around the world and acts as principal point of liaison between the prepaid economy and government agencies, regulators, consumer bodies and the media. It is focused on the entire prepaid world and facilitates the development of cross- industry guidelines and codes of practice.  

Fiona Whitaker

Head of Gift & Prepaid Products, Indue Limited, Australia

Fiona Whitaker is a prominent identity in the Australian prepaid market and Head of Gift and Prepaid Products at Indue Limited, a wholesale provider of payment solutions and a founding member of PIF's Australia Chapter. 

Fiona has an in-depth knowledge of the Australian payment industry and specialises in designing and developing bespoke prepaid , gift and loyalty solutions for Indue's clients. She has been able to develop solutions which maximise the prepaid programme's functionality as well as integrate seamlessly within the complex Australian payments landscape. 

For over 20 years Fiona has advised companies on marketing strategies with particular emphasis on consumer behaviour, driving customer acquisition and brand development. This experience helps her to position programmes for success. Fiona's previous experience spans roles within the retail, finance, mining, insurance and legal sectors within Australia. Her broad base of understanding helps clients to embrace the many opportunities prepaid holds both in Australia and overseas. Utilising Indue's retail banking platformand tapping into the company's 40 years of experience working in the regulatory and compliance framework of the Australian payment system, Fiona has been able to develop innovative programms that utilise the company's other payment products. 

Fiona holds a Bachelor of Business from Queensland University of Technology majoring in Management, Marketing and Economics.