The Balance Blog

As recently as a few years ago, prepaid was still thought of as a convenient alternative to cash or checks. It was useful, but it was more of a niche offering. Today, it’s a core part of the money-movement infrastructure.

Many enterprises still think about payment tools just as pipes for moving money. ‍You load funds, issue physical or virtual cards, payments happen, and reconciliation follows. But that’s an increasingly inaccurate view. Today, payments are also governance engines with the ability to enforce rules, automate oversight, and embed accountability into every transaction.‍