Use this planning section to identify the integration decisions to consider when building your card issuing program.

1. Build your business case

Start by identifying your business objectives. Develop a comprehensive business plan that outlines your goals, target market, revenue model, and growth strategy.

Considerations

Which countries will you offer your product in?

• Research the country’s tax laws affecting card products.
• If you’re using ATMs, decide how you will integrate with each country’s ATMs.
• Determine which currencies you’ll support and if you’ll impose cross-border fees.

What’s your target market?

• Consider whether you’re targeting a corporate audience, consumers, or both.
• Understand your market segmentation. Research the market and your competition, which can help you find a new niche, create innovative products, or leverage an existing business.
• Define your go-to-market strategy.

What’s your sales strategy?

• Create your customer profiles or personas.
• Decide on the type of product you want to offer (for example, standard or premium).
• Consider whether you’ll offer loyalty or reward programs.
• Decide if your product is part of a special promotion.
• Decide whether you want to offer introductory pricing and bonuses.

What’s your marketing strategy?

• Create your card design and imagery.
• Design your card packaging and whether you’ll include promotional materials, terms and conditions, and so on.
• Define how you’ll use your marketing materials (in store, online, booths, trade shows, and so on).
• Define your advertising campaign (print, media, promotional, and so on).

What's your customer communication and support model?

• Determine how you’ll manage incoming customer inquiries. Will you use a call center, web-based chat, conversational chatbots, or some combination of these?
• Determine how you’ll communicate to cardholders, such as sending statements and other required notifications.

2. Build a project team

Assemble a strong project team to coordinate the development and deployment of your card issuing program

Considerations

Does your team have strong executive management support and the right personnel?

• Verify that you have a senior management sponsor who strongly backs the effort. This advocacy is critical to success.
• Include representatives from many different functional areas, including program management, product, legal, compliance, process design, sales, marketing, and finance.
• Ideally, ensure these team members have expertise and experience in card issuing.

3. Ensure you meet all regulatory, compliance, and legal requirements

All countries have specific laws and regulations governing financial services, and there are global rules as well. You must ensure relevant authorities have approved you for card issuing where you plan to operate.

4. Define your card issuing strategy

Define a comprehensive strategy for your card issuing programs.

Considerations

What types of cards will you offer?

• Pismo offers three program types for cards: debit, credit, and prepaid. Determine which ones you’ll offer.
• We offer two card types: physical cards (plastic or metal) and virtual cards. Decide what you’ll offer.

What card network will you use?

• Pismo supports Visa and Mastercard worldwide, RuPay in India, and ELO for Brazilian-based clients (but with an international reach through association with Discover). Decide if you’ll use one or more network.

What card network integration model will you use?

• Pismo supports two card network integration models: Full balance integration and Zero balance integration. With Full balance integration, we handle most of the processes. With Zero balance integration, you’re responsible for managing your customers’ balances and credit limits.

Compare the models to find the one that works best for you. The Pismo support team can help.

5. Create your governance model

Build an organizational framework and establish processes to support your card issuing program. Even if you already have card issuing programs, you should plan for how these new programs will impact your current organization and processes.

Considerations

How will your organizational structure and processes support the new program?

• Define program ownership and a reporting structure.
• Define new roles and a training plan for those who will support the program, including marketing, sales, legal, customer support, IT, and so on.
• Create or modify processes to manage the program.
• Create change management processes to introduce the new program.
• Ensure all compliance and regulatory requirements are built into the program.

Does the program have an oversight function?

• Set up a governance committee to oversee your card issuing program for the long term.
• Ensure that compliance and legal have a clear understanding of their responsibilities. Define communication channels between them and the governance committee.