New Programmes

Launching a card programme for the first time? There are many aspects to consider, and potential pitfalls to be aware of, especially if your team does not have detailed experience previously launching and running a card programme.

Our experienced team of analysts understand the card payments industry and have in-depth knowledge and experience to help you successfully launch your card programme. Below are some details to consider and information on how your Thredd support team can support you through all stages of your project.

Commercial Considerations

Time-to-market is usually a critical factor when launching a card service; to successfully launch your programme by your target launch date will require a good understanding of how to scope, plan and implement the components of a card programme and the typical costs and timescales involved. Understanding in which markets you want to launch your service, and potential barriers or specific requirements in these markets is critical. Local countries may have specific trading regulations or restrictions that could potentially impact on your ability or the cost of launching a local service1 For example, some countries may require you to have a local office and trading company entity,,. Your Thredd Business Development Manager, with knowledge of the local regions, can guide you through some of these commercial considerations.

For more information on Thredd regional support, see Country Support.

Card Issuing Requirements

An Issuer is a regulated organisation that has local regulatory authority and card scheme approval to issue prepaid, debit or credit cards. You will need to decide whether you will be self-issuing or using the services of an existing issuer to support your card program.

Self-issuing requires a contractual relationship with Visa or Mastercard and additional regulatory authority requirements, and therefore adds time and costs to the implementation phase. For new customers starting out on a card program with Thredd, speed to market is quicker and easier when using an existing issuer already set up with Thredd, compared to setting yourself up as a new issuer.

For more information, see Managing BINs.

Understanding the Customer Journey

Understanding your customer's end-to-end experience is a key part to setting up an effective card program. Mapping out the customer journey should be done as early as possible so that the Thredd system can be correctly configured to your requirements.

For more information, see the Getting Started Guide > Stages in a Project

Working with the Card Schemes

The card scheme provides the network over which card payments can take place. Thredd currently support both Visa and Mastercard, which provide global networks. We are also working to support other global card schemes as well as local schemes, specific to your region.

If you are using the services of an existing issuer, you do not need to have a separate agreement with the card scheme they support.

The card scheme networks have variations in how they process and report payments. When Thredd receives and processes information from the different networks, we provide this to our customers in a consistent format.

For more information, see the Getting Started Guide > Stages in a Project.

Understanding Card Payments

A good understanding of how card payment transactions work and the different types of transaction messages that are exchanged over payment networks is essential for effectively managing card transactions on your systems. Our experienced team of analysts can provide additional training for your developers, product managers, customer service analysts and other staff members who are involved in the launch and running of your card programme.

For a good introduction to card payments ecosystem and the role of Thredd, we recommend you read the Introduction to Card Payments Guide.

Complying with Card Payment Industry Regulations

Card Scheme and local and regional card payment industry regulations are constantly evolving. Our specialist card payment analysts monitor Scheme updates and Regulatory changes in the regions in which we operate. We update our systems to reflect changing regulatory requirements and new features and products launched by the Card Schemes. For more information on our change control and communication process, see Notifying you of System Changes.

Some of the regulatory factors your card programme will need to consider:

• Customer onboarding and anti-money laundering (AML) checks

• Handling of client funds

• Data protection and handling of customer personally identifying information (PII), such as the Card Primary Account Number (PAN), customer name and address details and card CVV2

• Data security and payment processing fraud checks

• Dispute management processes

• Regulatory reporting

For an introduction to Card Payment Industry regulation, see the Introduction to Card Payments Guide > Regulation of Card Network Participants.

Card Programme and Card Product Configuration

Thredd card configuration options help to ensure that the characteristics of your cards can be tailored to the needs of your service and include features to enhance the safety and security of your cards and reduce the risk of fraud. Card configuration options are applied during setting up of your Thredd card program. Configuration can be applied at a product level, across all your card products or to a specific card. For more information, see Card Configuration.

Integrating Thredd Products and Services

Deciding which Thredd products and services you will need to run your card programme, as well as the timing and schedule of implementation are important considerations to help ensure a successful card programme launch. Programme aspects such as the countries in which you plan to launch your service, your PCI-compliance status and level of experience in handling payments, plus the nature of the service you will be launching (e.g., closed loop vs. open loop) and type of service (e.g., prepaid, wallet, currency conversion) will influence which products and services you need.

Risk management and Fraud Prevention

Managing and reducing the risks of fraud is a vital consideration when launching a new card programme. Incidents of fraud could result in potential financial loss to customers as well as significant costs and damage your business's reputation. Thredd offers a wide range of integrated products and services that can help to reduce the incidents of fraud and handle payment disputes. For more information, see Managing Risk.

From a service perspective, you want to provide your customers with a seamless and frictionless payment experience, while at the same time in the background, using our fraud management and prevention services to monitor and control card payment activities, based on the rules you have configured for your programme or via automated systems that are able to detect and block suspicious transactions.

Launching to Market

Before launching your service, you should ensure that you have performed end-to-end testing of all aspects of your programme. Issuer and Thredd testing and approval is required before we can switch your service to active. For more information about testing and go live stages, see the Getting Started Guide > Stages in a Project.

Card Programme Maintenance

Your integration journey does not stop once you go live. You will need to provide resources to handle issues, manage system changes and enhancements, and add new features and services to your card program. For more information, see the Getting Started Guide > Managing Change.