Prepaid International Forum

The PIF Executive Committee is closely involved in the day to day running and strategic direction of PIF

Robert Courtneidge

Global Head of Cards & Payments, Salans & Co-Founder, PIF

Robert is a consultant and the Global Head of Cards & Payments at Salans in a role to spearhead the firm's push into the prepaid card sector. He is based in the London office with the banking & finance team. He has over 15 years' experience in the cards and payments systems arena and covers all aspects of consumer finance and the technology behind it.

He is an expert in consumer protection, data protection, banking regulation and compliance.Robert is recognised as one of the top industry specialists in the e-money arena and has advised many top financial institutions such as Citibank, GE Bank, Morgan Stanley and Diners Club as well as technology providers including Yodlee, Money Supermarket and Yahoo. He is a founding Director on the executive committee of PIF. He also acts for many players in the prepaid world such as PPT, APS, Tuxedo, Altair and M-Cube to name a few.He works closely with the compliance and industry bodies including an Associate of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) and the Financial Services Association (FSA) to ensure all his clients' activities are legal and compliant.

Robert works on the cutting edge of the financial services industry, embracing new technological and legislative/regulatory developments. He has specialised in representing clients with new products and bringing them to the market. He has become a spokesperson on current issues facing the European payments industry from the Payment Services Directive to SEPA and the Third Money Laundering Directive. He is a regular speaker worldwide on the prepaid cards industry.

Michael Lafferty

Chairman, Lafferty Group & Co-Founder, PIF

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.

Chris Reddish

Chairman & Co-Founder, PIF

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.

Previously Chris was responsible for MasterCard Europe’s PrePaid activities in Europe. As such, he headed up the Prepaid cross-functional team, covering 53 country markets across the Europe region. He was responsible for the regional alignment of MasterCard’s Prepaid development, product management and implementation strategy within the region.Previously Chris was Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director for PrePay Technologies Limited, an international market leader in the design and delivery of innovative prepaid solutions and Chris held a number of senior roles within organizations such as Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Petroleum Geo-Services and various UK Government departments, which included international operations and project planning. Chris’s interests include mountaineering, motor and water sports.

Peter Sidenius

Director, Edgar, Dunn & Company

Peter is a Director in EDC’s London office and is in charge of EDC’s European practice. He has over seventeen years of global consulting and industry experience in the financial services industry with wide geographic experience across European, North American, Middle Eastern and African markets. He have delivered strategic consultancy assignments within the physical and e-business arena of financial services, providing strategic payment service analysis, profitability analysis, operational reviews, new product development, benchmarking studies and providing regulatory advice for industry leading clients. Clients have included international payment schemes, national banks, financial services organisations, global private equity firms and national associations. He holds an Master of Science from Denmark’s Technical University and a Masters of Philosophy in Management Studies from Oxford University. Peter is a regular conference speaker and Chairman at events concerning the cards and payments business and customer profitability/value management across Europe and beyond.

PIF General Manager

Yvonne West

Yvonne was appointed as General Manager for Prepaid International Forum (PIF) In July 2010.

Previously Yvonne spent 17 years with Sainsbury's Supermarkets heading up their prepaid department. She was pivotal in moving the Sainsbury's product from paper to plastic as well as developing a business-to-business operation bringing in over £70 million a year. Yvonne's role expanded dramatically when Sainsbury's was first to market in 2006 with their gift card mall, which has become a leading mall in Europe.

Yvonne has been involved in the prepaid world for over 25 years, starting out at The Burton Group, then to House of Fraser and became Managing Director of The Voucher Shop, a start up business aimed at salary sacrifice and voluntary benefit schemes.

She was instrumental in the development of the UK Gift Card and Voucher Association where she has served as Chairperson. She has also served on the PIF Board of Directors.

The Founders of the Prepaid International Forum (PIF)

Robert Courtneidge, Global Head of Cards & Payments, Salans

Ken Howes, Former Director, Edgar, Dunn & Company

Michael Lafferty, Chairman, Lafferty Group

Chris Reddish, Chairman, Prepaid International Forum

PIF was established in 2007. It has a global membership spanning four continents made up of over 60 issuers, programme managers and vendors active in the global prepaid industry.

PIF Management Board