March 2019 -

Card@Once Instant Issuance Wins Silver for Best in Biz “Enterprise Product of the Year”

March 25, 2019

Recognizing the importance of instant issuance in today’s financial marketplace, the Best in Biz Awards recently named CPI Card Group’s innovative Card@Once solution a 2018 silver winner in the Enterprise Product of the Year – All Others category.

The Best in Biz Awards is the only business awards program judged by an independent panel of prominent reporters and editors from top-tier business publications including the Associated Press, Businessweek, CNET, Fast Company, Financial Times, Inc., Forbes, Fortune, Reuters, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired, among others. Past award winners have included household names like AT&T, Aflac, Microsoft, Sheraton, Eastman, Ernst & Young, and Hewlett-Packard.

The 8th annual Best in Biz Awards recognized CPI’s Card@Once as a secure, cloud-based instant issuance solution that is both quick to deploy and easy to use.

As a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, Card@Once allows issuers to instantly print magnetic stripe, EMV^® and dual interface debit and credit cards in the branch without requiring expensive on-premises software or servers. CPI manages all IT support and updates, allowing the financial institution to focus solely on serving the needs of its cardholders with minimal upfront investment and no annual licensing fees. PCI-compliant¹, Card@Once offers issuers a competitive differentiator that helps improve their cardholder experience.

The benefits of instant issuance are well-established. It allows financial institutions to serve their cardholders’ most urgent needs, while also reducing the substantial costs associated with mailing or shipping cards, with a savings of up to $1 per card. Instant issuance has also been shown to improve debit card activation rates by between 4 and 10 percent depending on branch and cardholder demographics, and to increase monthly debit purchase transactions by an average of 21 percent, depending on the mix of new and existing cardholders receiving the card.

Card@Once also allows issuers to respond effectively to instances of fraud and card compromise. In 2017, Indiana-based Farmers & Merchants Bank needed to rapidly reissue nearly 800 debit cards in response to cardholders effected by card data compromise. Thanks to the Card@Once instant issuance solution, the Bank was able to immediately meet this critical need, reissuing most cards within a 24-hour window, while simultaneously converting its cardholders to the EMV chip-enabled standard.

Interested in offering in-branch instant card issuance to your cardholders? CPI Card Group’s team of dedicated client services specialists are here to help. ↪ CLICK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CARD@ONCE

¹Certain PCI standards apply to the financial institution facility that are not within CPI Card Group's control.

The Promise of Metal: Capitalizing on First Impressions

March 14, 2019

Metal cards have caught the eye of consumers in recent years. A certain segment of cardholder craves the feelings of exclusivity, luxury, and sophistication that metal cards provide. Attracted by the prospect of adding new, affluent cardholders, many financial institutions are looking to add metal card options to their portfolios. But the higher costs involved in manufacturing metal cards is giving some issuers pause. Before you take the leap, it’s important to understand the key ingredients of a successful metal card program. In this post, we discuss the first of these important aspects: the look.

Heavy on design

Aside from the noticeable heft and recognizable click when a metal card meets a hard surface, the naturally rich, unique look of the materials is one of the most appealing aspects of these cards. In the past, cards created using alloys offered a more limited design palate. Today, innovations in manufacturing have produced fusions of metal and plastic, allowing issuers to combine many of the same treatments available on plastic with the weight and rigidity of a metal component.

Elaborate design and personalization features offer issuers an emerging world of possibility in metal. The key is to view metal as a starting point – a blank canvas on which to create an immersive, customized cardholder experience that fully reflects your brand. By leveraging distinctive design features like matte coatings, spot UV gloss, and bright color treatments, you can instill your cardholders with a sense of pride and exclusivity. Laser personalization completes the front or back of the card.

Metal Cards Have the Edge

Finally, the design elements for metal cards are completed with a distinctive edge. For encased cards, issuers can take advantage of colored-edge options to complement the design, allowing for a gleaming exposed edge from its spot at the top of the wallet. Differentiation at the edge can enhance an issuer’s brand identity as well as create a look that stands out.

For financial institutions to remain on the forefront of consumer taste and expectations, they should not only provide the products their cardholders demand but also anticipate their desires through continuous innovation. Disrupting the status quo through the expanding possibilities of a metal card can redefine cardholder preferences.

Building a metal card program with an experienced partner like CPI Card Group enables financial institutions to seamlessly integrate metal cards into their offerings through a team of dedicated client services and research and development specialists. Learn more about CPI Card Group’s encased metal cards. ↪ CLICK TO SEE ENCASED METAL CARDS