CPI and Fiserv Team Up to Modernize Instant Card Issuance for Banks

Fintech heavyweight Fiserv announced an alliance to embed CPI’s SaaS‑based Card@Once platform into Fiserv’s ecosystem of more than 10,000 banks and credit unions across the United States.

CPI’s Card@Once platform has long been positioned as a cloud‑native, API‑first solution that can generate a card number, embed it in a mobile wallet, and print a physical card on demand—all within seconds. By integrating directly with Fiserv’s core banking and payment processing suite, the joint solution removes the need for banks to stitch together disparate vendors for card creation, fulfillment, and digital wallet activation.

• Seamless integration – Fiserv clients can enable Card@Once with a few configuration steps, leveraging existing authentication and settlement flows.
• Dual‑channel issuance – Consumers receive a physical card in‑branch while a tokenized version appears instantly in their mobile wallet, a capability that addresses the growing demand for omnichannel experiences.
• Cost‑effective SaaS model – The subscription‑based pricing eliminates capital expenditures for on‑premise infrastructure, and CPI assumes ongoing maintenance and program setup.

How Card@Once works

At its core, Card@Once operates as a microservice that consumes a card‑order request, contacts a token‑generation engine, and triggers a fulfillment partner for physical card printing. The entire workflow is orchestrated through RESTful APIs that are processor‑agnostic, core‑agnostic, and mobile‑agnostic. Once the card is generated, a token is instantly pushed to Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Wallet, enabling “instant issuance” without the latency traditionally associated with card production cycles.

The platform’s architecture aligns with the broader shift toward composable banking, where banks assemble best‑of‑breed services via APIs rather than monolithic suites, leveraging machine learning.

Industry implications

Real‑time card issuance is no longer a niche offering. A recent Gartner forecast predicts that 70 % of banks will have deployed instant issuance capabilities by 2025, up from 35 % in 2022. The CPI‑Fiserv alliance accelerates that trajectory by lowering technical barriers and shrinking time‑to‑market for new card programs.

For banks, the immediate upside is customer acquisition. Studies from McKinsey show that digital‑first consumers are 2.5 × more likely to stay with a bank that offers instant card delivery. Faster issuance also reduces fraud exposure by limiting the window between request and activation, a point emphasized by the alliance’s emphasis on token‑first issuance.

From a fintech ecosystem perspective, the move intensifies competition with advertising platforms such as Stripe Issuing, Marqeta’s Issuing API, and Galileo’s card‑as‑a‑service.

Comparison with rival solutions

While Stripe and Marqeta excel in developer‑centric environments, Card@Once’s deep embedding in Fiserv’s core banking suite offers a level of operational simplicity that large banks value. The partnership also promises “single‑pane‑of‑glass” reporting and analytics, a feature often missing from pure‑play issuing APIs.

Implications for enterprise marketing teams

Marketing departments stand to benefit from the accelerated launch cycles enabled by instant issuance. Campaigns that hinge on “instant card delivery” can now be executed with confidence that the underlying technology will meet promised timelines. Moreover, the dual‑channel capability allows marketers to segment audiences—targeting tech‑savvy users with immediate wallet tokens while still catering to customers who prefer a physical card.

The SaaS model also frees up budget for customer acquisition initiatives (content strategy), rather than infrastructure spend. With CPI handling ongoing maintenance, banks can allocate resources to loyalty programs, data‑driven personalization (data intelligence), and cross‑sell opportunities that leverage real‑time transaction data captured at the moment of issuance.

Market Landscape

The instant issuance market is part of a broader digital payments acceleration that IDC projects will generate $1.2 trillion in incremental transaction volume by 2027. Cloud‑native card platforms are emerging as the de facto standard for banks seeking to compete with fintech challengers that can spin up card programs in days.

Fiserv’s extensive client base gives the CPI solution a distribution advantage that many pure‑play issuers lack. However, the partnership must navigate the competitive pressure from open‑banking ecosystems—such as the UK’s Open Banking Initiative—where third‑party providers can also provision cards via APIs.

Regulatory scrutiny remains a factor; the European PSD2 and U.S. CFPB guidelines demand rigorous authentication for card issuance. CPI’s token‑first approach aligns with these requirements, but banks will still need to integrate robust KYC/AML workflows, an area where Fiserv’s existing compliance suite offers a ready‑made solution.

Top Insights

• Speed to market: The CPI‑Fiserv integration reduces card‑onboarding time from weeks to minutes, enabling banks to launch targeted advertising campaigns faster.
• Dual‑channel advantage: Simultaneous physical and digital card delivery meets diverse consumer preferences, boosting acquisition and retention rates.
• Competitive edge: By embedding a processor‑agnostic SaaS platform into an existing core, banks avoid the integration complexity that rivals like Stripe Issuing face.
• Marketing ROI: SaaS pricing and managed maintenance free up marketing budgets for data‑driven initiatives rather than infrastructure spend (search visibility).
• Regulatory alignment: Token‑first issuance supports emerging KYC/AML standards, mitigating compliance risk for banks.

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