Wing yesterday launched its first prepaid Visa card with the Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB), almost six months after it was initially slated for release.

Wing, the mobile payment and money transfer company, is not allowed to issue its own Visa cards without collaboration from a financial institution.

The new prepaid cards, identifiable by their Angry Birds cartoon designs, were supposed to launch in August last year, but licensing issues set down by the banking regulator delayed the process, said Wing CEO Anthony Perkins in an email.

“That took a while to pull together, as we always saw a bigger relationship with FTB going forwards than just Visa cards,” he said. “Short term pain, long term gain I guess.”

The prepaid card can be used locally and overseas, anywhere Visa is offered. To top up, customers transfer funds from their accounts in Cambodia using mobile phones, or through direct deposits at one of the 1,000 Wing Cash Xpress outlets nationwide.

Driven by its domestic money transfer services, Wing posted transaction volume figures of $1.5 billion last year.

Perkins said the company is on track to post profits for the first time in its five-year history in 2014.