The term holistic typically brings to mind something comprehensive where all the constituent parts are considered as one. Holistic issuing is that, and so much more. It’s a philosophy, a perspective, and a mode of operation that goes beyond delivering all of the components of payment card provision under one roof. It embodies a commitment to efficiency, seamless control, and innovation. In short, it represents a unified approach to card issuing that unlocks new levels of speed, adaptability, and customer satisfaction.
In this article, I’ll explore the concept of holistic issuing and how it’s reshaping the landscape of payment solutions by consolidating what was once a fragmented chain of services into a single, agile experience.
Uncovering the Complexity of Payment Card Provision
Providing a payment instrument such as a debit, credit, charge, or prepaid card as part of your product or service is a complex undertaking. There are a multitude of moving parts to consider, coordinate, and continuously monitor both during and after your business has launched.
This multi-disciplinary nature of payment provision has traditionally required multiple service providers and licensed entities to be coordinated and orchestrated in order to develop, deliver and maintain the underlying technical architecture, and systems of governance required. This includes card issuing, payment processing, program management, anti-fraud, and app development, to name but a few. It also means that every change, both big and small, creates a cascading effect that ripples across the entire value chain, significantly impacting compliance and cost.
Think of building a payment card solution like constructing a car. In the traditional model, it’s as if you had to source the chassis from one company, engine from another, likewise with the gearbox, and the safety features from yet another. Each component might work well on its own, but integrating them into a fully functioning vehicle requires intense coordination. Additionally, when you wanted to introduce a new feature to the gearbox, you’d have to coordinate with each of the other parts of the chain to assess the impact of the change. Then, when you suddenly hear a mechanical rattle, it’s much harder to discern which part is causing the issue and getting everyone to treat fixing it as a priority is equally hard.
With holistic issuing, it’s as if one manufacturer provides every part of the car, and because they have a comprehensive view they can immediately assess the impact of changes and trace issues more efficiently when they occur. There’s no guesswork, just a streamlined experience from start to finish.
A (very) Brief History of Payments
To understand where the complexity in payment provision came from, we need to go back 50 years. Pre-internet, card issuers were predominantly banks. The concept of a branded project was almost non-existent. Some early examples appeared in the 1980s, when airlines teamed up with banks and card issuers to offer rewards.
The internet’s rise reshaped payments by accelerating innovation and enabling technical pioneers to build expertise in areas such as payment processing, platform hosting, and card management systems. As these new players entered the market, banks found it increasingly challenging to match their technical expertise and provide the in-house infrastructure needed.
This has led to a fragmented ecosystem, with distinct providers for each individual component. Which brings us to today, and the modern payment ecosystem with its multi-faceted value chain.
The Value of a Unified Approach
The complex payments landscape raises a fundamental question – does it need to be this way? When I founded Accomplish, I questioned why there wasn’t a “technical issuer” that properly built and integrated all the tech and was responsible for issuing compliance, and eliminated the need for fragmented services. The holistic issuing model was born from this question, aiming to offer clients a cohesive solution through a single provider.
However, holistic issuing isn’t just about bundling services, it’s about reshaping the entire payment ecosystem with efficiency and effectiveness. A holistic issuer understands the entire market and the specific issues clients face, much more than a supplier that only represents a sliver of the ecosystem. A processor might understand the tech, but not regulatory concerns. Meanwhile, a regulator-focused entity won’t have insight into the complete technology landscape required to build a payment platform.
With a single provider responsible for every aspect, clients benefit from significant cost and time savings, smoother operations, and accelerated project timelines. Coordinating a project with multiple service providers requires continuous effort to align schedules and priorities. In contrast, a holistic issuer can immediately set plans in motion, eliminating the months, or even years of delays that can arise from multi-party orchestration.
Vitally, you don’t need to worry if everybody heard and interpreted what you wanted the same way – or that they all consider it with the same urgency. There is only one person to communicate with, and internally, everything is communicated once and everyone is on the same page. Everyone understands the full picture, which translates into tremendous gains in cost, speed, and efficiency.
Real-Time Responsiveness and Simplified Communication
The issues of inefficiency don’t go away once the product is launched either. In fact, you could argue that they become more prominent. When issues occur, and they will, they don’t follow a 9-to-5 work week schedule. They can arise at any time. When multiple parties are involved, addressing a weekend or late-night issue requires rallying several teams, and convincing them to drop everything they are doing to focus on your problem.
In a holistic model, the response is simpler and faster because one entity has control over the entire ecosystem. There’s no need for extensive negotiations or convincing multiple stakeholders. Decisions are swift, and execution begins immediately.
Innovation at Its Core
Critically, the holistic model also allows for faster experimentation and more agile R&D. For example, at Accomplish, we explored biometric card products, and because we could handle tech and compliance in parallel, we saw results much faster. Rather than juggling fragmented updates in sporadic meetings, our team constantly innovates, often with over 100 features in the pipeline at any one time. We are constantly expanding solutions to tackle a wide array of challenges. Then there’s the benefit of having all expertise in-house, which means that technical and regulatory elements can be tackled simultaneously. Which brings us to compliance.
Holistic Compliance Management
Compliance is the backbone of every successful payment ecosystem. Every change in the product can potentially affect compliance. With a holistic issuer, compliance isn’t an afterthought, it’s embedded at every stage, from development to daily operations. As clients grow, they can trust that their products will remain compliant without extensive overhauls. This oversight not only ensures longevity but also protects the business’s momentum, which positively impacts you, your cardholders, and overall ensures a happier regulator.
Transparent Pricing and Long-Term Alignment
From a cost perspective, just the fact you don’t have to multiply your budget to pay for participants from each individual entity, makes a holistic issuer cost effective. But there’s a lot more to it than that. A holistic issuer that’s responsible for every part of the ecosystem has fewer overheads and can pass on the cost efficiencies to the customer. However, the biggest win is transparent pricing.
Rather than having to make sense of a myriad of different pricing models from multiple parties, a holistic issuer can provide one single cost for everything. This is important because it enables you to make critical decisions about your own business and produce accurate budgets and forecasts. Once the cost is set in stone, you can build it into your cost of sale, and price their products accordingly.
A Client-Centred Approach: Mission over Margin
At Accomplish, we are driven by what our clients need, not by an incentive to sell extra features or upsell unnecessary “bells and whistles.” Unlike traditional processors, whose goal is to boost margins by pushing additional features, we prioritise alignment with our clients’ goals, focusing on crafting products that serve their specific needs as effectively as possible. At Accomplish when you need a new feature, it is ready and available to you. It’s there as and when you need it.
Our mission isn’t to sell every feature in our arsenal. Instead, we aim to create long-term partnerships where clients can grow and build their offerings with us over time. When our clients succeed, we succeed. This alignment fosters a collaborative, client-centred approach that extends beyond one-off projects. By focusing on what matters most to each client, we’re building a foundation for sustainable growth and mutual benefit, allowing us to continually refine and expand our projects to meet their evolving needs.
Setting a New Standard in Payment Solutions
Ultimately, holistic issuing redefines what it means to offer a payment solution. By consolidating technical expertise, regulatory oversight, and customer support, it provides clients with a smoother, faster, and more cost-effective pathway to market. No more herding cats or navigating complex, fragmented systems. Instead, holistic issuing offers a simplified, agile, and customer-centred model that aligns with today’s demand for innovation, speed, and reliability.
Holistic issuing is much more than an alternative approach. It’s a new standard for the payment industry, setting up clients for long-term success, sustained growth and consistent innovation.
An abbreviated version of an article has appeared on The Payments Association website: https://thepaymentsassociation.org/