FERRERE advised Luncheon Tickets S.A., the Uruguayan subsidiary of Edenred, world leader in prepaid corporate services, in obtaining the authorization from the Uruguayan Central Bank to operate as an Electronic Money Issuer of meal benefits for employees. The other major player in this market -SODEXO- was also authorized.
In May 2014, Uruguay enacted the Law of Financial Inclusion and Electronic Payments, which was a key milestone in the Government’s strategy for the inclusion of a wide range of sectors of the economy in the electronic payments’ world. The Government has been claiming that most of Uruguay’s population does not have access to electronic payment means, and therefore it does not have equal opportunities to be in line with international trends regarding these matters.
In this innovative context, among other things, the Law created new participants in the payment system called Electronic Money Issuers, regulated by the Uruguayan Central Bank. The Law mandates that meal benefits for employees be paid through electronic money instruments instead of physical meal vouchers, which has meant that issuers of meal vouchers for employees – such as Luncheon Tickets S.A. – have had to become Electronic Money Issuers. The process for obtaining this authorization started in November 2014 and involved adapting all the company’´s processes, contracts and, technology, as well as creating new operating manuals and procedures and amending its bylaws .
Prior and after to the enactment of the Law, both Edenred and SODEXO actively participated in the discussions about it and its regulations with the Government in order to assure that the system would actually work and benefit the population as the Government’s objective intended.