Fintech & Payments
Card programme and payments services
We help assess programme costs, compare licensed providers, and plan the integration and operations — or run the programme layer ourselves alongside licensed issuing partners.
Our role
We work in two ways. In advisory engagements we help you assess structures, select licensed partners and design the operations around them. In programme engagements we contract with licensed issuing partners ourselves and run the technology, integration and day-to-day operations of the programme for a platform client. In both cases the cards are issued by a licensed issuing partner, and issuance, authorisation, settlement and the holding of funds remain with that partner.
Areas we cover
Card programme advisory
Card scheme and BIN sponsorship options, programme manager and processor selection, virtual versus physical issuance, card product design, and the commercial structure that sits underneath it.
Economics and unit cost modelling
Interchange, scheme fees, FX markup, issuance and per-transaction costs, modelled together to show what the programme actually earns or loses per active card.
Banking and payment partner sourcing
Shortlisting payment institutions, EMIs and banking partners by corridor and currency, then running structured comparison and commercial negotiation support on your behalf.
Payment and settlement flow design
How money moves in and out, settlement timing, treasury and float considerations, and reconciliation design across the providers you work with.
Compliance operating design
KYC, KYB and AML tooling selection, transaction monitoring thresholds, merchant category code restrictions, and the operational runbooks your team follows day to day.
Vendor and API due diligence
Reviewing provider documentation, API capabilities and contracts, then identifying gaps and questions to resolve before signing.
Programme services
Running the programme layer
Where a platform wants a card product but does not want to build and staff the programme layer itself, we take that layer on — contracting with the licensed issuer and running everything around their regulated services.
Programme entity and partner contracting
Holding the commercial relationship with the licensed issuer and processor on the platform's behalf, and managing partner and card scheme requirements through the life of the programme.
Technology and integration
Building and maintaining the integration between the platform and the issuer's and processor's systems, covering card lifecycle, spending controls and transaction data.
Cardholder onboarding and support operations
Running the operational workflows for onboarding, activation, servicing and support, to the standards the issuing partner sets.
Monitoring and dispute operations
Operating transaction monitoring queues, merchant category code restrictions, chargeback and dispute handling, and escalation into the issuing partner.
Reconciliation and reporting
Daily reconciliation across partners, programme reporting, and the records the issuing partner and the card scheme require.
Programme structure
Who does what in a card programme
- Card scheme
- Issuer / BIN sponsor
- Programme manager / processor
- Your platform
- Cardholder
Where you sit
Your platform owns the customer relationship and the product experience. You decide who the card is for, how it is used and what it looks like. You also carry the operational work: onboarding users, handling support and following the rules your partners set.
Where the licensed parties sit
The card scheme sets network rules and charges scheme fees. The issuer, through BIN sponsorship, holds the licence and the cardholder relationship in law. The programme manager or processor runs authorisation and settlement. Interchange and merchant category code (MCC) rules flow through all of them.
Where CloudTrader sits
CloudTrader sits in the technology and operations layer. Depending on the engagement we either advise the platform on structure, partners and economics, or we act as the programme entity — contracting with the licensed issuer, integrating their systems, and running the operational work around them: onboarding support, cardholder support, dispute handling, reconciliation and reporting. Issuance, authorisation, settlement and the holding of funds sit with the licensed issuing partner, under their licence and card scheme membership.
Project stages
Planning through to launch
01
Feasibility and economics
We test whether the programme makes sense: who it serves, which partner structures fit, and a cost model built on interchange, scheme fees and per-card costs.
02
Partner selection and diligence
We build a shortlist of licensed issuers, sponsors and processors, run a structured comparison, and review their documentation and terms.
03
Contract and integration support
We support commercial negotiation and help your engineers integrate, working through edge cases in authorisation, settlement and disputes.
04
Launch readiness and operations design
We design the runbooks for chargebacks, reconciliation, monitoring and partner reporting, so operations are in place before cardholders arrive.
Common questions
Working on a payments product?
Email us a few lines about it. We read every message ourselves.