Card Issuing & Programme Management

Card Programme Design

A card programme is a set of linked commercial, technical and regulatory decisions that fix the economics, risk profile and customer offer of every card it issues. Several of these decisions need to be made before a processor is chosen or a scheme agreement signed: the target segment (consumer, corporate, prepaid or payroll), the network (Visa, Mastercard, Amex or a domestic scheme such as mada, BENEFIT or Meeza), the programme model (bank-issued, fintech co-brand or branded prepaid) and the revenue model (interchange-funded rewards, fees or FX income).

These choices affect each other in ways that often only show up during implementation. A rewards card built to maximise interchange needs a different processor set-up, carries different fraud risk and is regulated differently from a payroll prepaid card for migrant workers in the GCC. Getting the design right at the start avoids expensive restructuring after launch.

We work with banks, fintechs and non-bank issuers at the design stage to define the product, model unit economics on realistic volumes, and write a requirements specification that gives the issuer a clear basis for processor selection and scheme negotiations.

• Programme architecture: card type, network, customer segment and commercial model
• Unit economics: interchange income, processor costs, fraud losses, reward liability and contribution margin at scale
• Regulatory classification: banking licence, e-money licence or BIN sponsorship, and what each implies
• Go-to-market: distribution model, partner channels and customer acquisition cost

Card Processor Selection

Banks once had little choice beyond the large incumbent processors. API-first issuing platforms such as Marqeta, i2c, Thredd (formerly Global Processing Services) and Pomelo, together with regional providers, are now faster to deploy, more configurable and better suited to fintech and embedded finance. The trade-off is that incumbents still offer more depth for complex banking products.

Choosing a processor is one of the most important technology decisions an issuer makes. Moving a live programme to another processor is expensive, risky and disruptive for cardholders, so the first choice should rest on an objective assessment against requirements rather than on sales presentations and reference sites picked by the vendor.

Our processor selection work covers the requirements specification (functional, technical, regulatory and commercial), RFP design, scoring, reference interviews that we arrange independently of the vendor, commercial negotiation and an implementation readiness review.

• Requirements covering processing functions, scheme support, regional coverage and API quality
• RFP design and a scoring framework weighted to the programme's priorities
• Independent reference checks with programmes comparable to the client's
• Commercial negotiation: processing fees, per-authorisation costs, minimum volume commitments and penalties
• Transition planning for programmes moving from an existing processor

BIN Sponsorship and Scheme Membership

Issuing a Visa or Mastercard card requires a BIN (Bank Identification Number), a range of card numbers that the scheme allocates to a licensed member. Fintechs, non-bank issuers and new entrants have two routes: BIN sponsorship, where they issue under the BIN of an existing member bank, or direct scheme membership as a principal or affiliate member.

The choice is about more than cost. Sponsorship is faster, needs no direct scheme relationship and puts most regulatory responsibility on the sponsor bank. Direct membership gives more control, removes dependence on the sponsor and is needed to access some scheme programmes, such as Visa Commercial Solutions or Mastercard's business card products, directly. It also means meeting scheme capital requirements, passing technical certification and signing a direct scheme agreement, which usually takes six to twelve months in GCC markets.

• BIN sponsorship: sponsor bank selection, contract terms, liability allocation and economics
• Scheme membership: principal or affiliate, capital requirements, technical certification and application support for Visa and Mastercard in GCC markets
• Domestic schemes: mada (Saudi Arabia), BENEFIT (Bahrain), NAPS (Qatar), Jaywan (UAE) and Meeza (Egypt): membership requirements and technical integration
• Scheme product programmes: Visa Commercial Solutions, Mastercard business cards and consumer rewards eligibility

Commercial Card Programmes

Commercial card programmes (corporate cards, purchasing cards, virtual cards for business spend, and travel and entertainment cards) work on different economics from consumer programmes. Where interchange is not capped, commercial card interchange is usually higher than consumer interchange, reflecting richer transaction data and the corporate credit risk the issuer carries. In the EU and UK, commercial cards fall outside the consumer caps in the Interchange Fee Regulation.

For companies, the appeal is spend visibility, policy control and rebates, with category-level controls and links to expense management systems. For issuers, a well-designed commercial programme earns more interchange per transaction than a consumer one (especially when Level 2 and Level 3 data is submitted correctly), suffers lower fraud because of corporate spend controls, and keeps cardholders longer.

Virtual Card Programmes

Virtual cards, single-use or multi-use card numbers created by software for a specific supplier or transaction type, are now a standard tool for B2B payment programmes, travel management companies and embedded finance platforms. Some programmes earn interchange on each transaction; others are sold as a working capital or reconciliation tool and earn platform fees or a return on balances.

For GCC companies and fintechs building virtual card programmes, the choice of processor matters: not every processor supports the per-transaction controls (exact-amount authorisation, single-use expiry, supplier-specific limits) that make virtual cards useful for accounts payable automation.

• Corporate card design: credit structure, spend controls, and integration with ERP and expense systems
• Level 2 and Level 3 data: qualification rules, technical implementation and interchange modelling
• Virtual card architecture: single-use or multi-use, per-transaction controls and reconciliation data
• Rebate design: spend thresholds, category accelerators and payment mechanics
• Travel and entertainment: lodge cards, travel management company partnerships and airline and hotel acceptance

Portfolio Management and Interchange Optimisation

A well-launched card portfolio will still underperform if portfolio management does not keep up as it grows. Interchange optimisation, making sure each transaction carries the data it needs to qualify for the best interchange rate, is the revenue lever issuers most often neglect, especially in commercial programmes.

Fraud rates, credit loss provisioning and approval rates are the other main drivers of portfolio profit. An authorisation model that declines too much frustrates cardholders and loses interchange; one that approves too freely raises fraud and credit losses. Getting the balance right means tracking approval, fraud and false-positive rates by cardholder segment and transaction type.

• Interchange qualification audit: finding data gaps that push transactions into more expensive categories
• Authorisation strategy: higher approval rates without more fraud
• Fraud model review: monitoring calibration, cardholder risk segments and dispute rate analysis
• Portfolio profitability: revenue and cost by card type, channel and customer segment
• Cardholder lifecycle: activation, early spend and attrition