Launching a payment card program should be an exciting strategic move. Whether you’re a fintech startup building innovative products or an established brand embedding finance into your ecosystem, card programs offer the power to extend customer engagement, streamline payments, and create new revenue streams. But deciding how to launch, and particularly whether to manage your card program or work with a program manager, is one of the most critical choices you’ll make.
Managing a card program independently means taking on a high level of complexity. It involves orchestrating multiple stakeholders, complying with strict regulatory frameworks, and maintaining operational excellence. Conversely, partnering with a program manager can help to offload much of that complexity, letting you focus on building the product and experience your users will love you for.
This blog covers some of the key considerations that can help you decide whether managing your card program is right for you or if working with a program manager makes more strategic sense.
The complexity of going it alone
Let’s start with a clear view of what’s involved in managing your own card program.
Launching a card program isn’t just about issuing cards. It requires coordinating an ecosystem of regulated entities and technical infrastructure, including:
- Regulatory compliance and licensing
- KYC/AML processes and fraud monitoring
- Customer onboarding and support
- Bank partner management and reporting
- Card design, production, and fulfillment
- Dispute and fraud resolution
- Network integration and reporting
- Payment processing and funding flows
- Technical integrations across partners
Each of these elements often involves a different partner, each with its own standards, requirements, and timelines. And if anything breaks, you’re on the hook to troubleshoot in real-time while maintaining uptime and customer satisfaction. One misstep could mean compliance risk, cardholder dissatisfaction, or serious operational disruptions.
And that’s before you even begin differentiating your product.
What does managing your own card program actually entail?
At a minimum, you’ll need to assemble and integrate with the following core building blocks:
Network license (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)
To execute payment transactions, your card program needs to be connected to a payment network (also called a “scheme” in Europe). This can happen in two ways:
- Become a principal member of a network and have your own banking/e-money license (both of which can be costly, time-intensive, and require a heavily regulated process to obtain)
- Partner with a bank or BIN sponsor, a licensed entity that gives you access to their network relationship and banking/e-money issuer license
Partner bank/BIN sponsor
These are regulated financial institutions. They are accountable for compliance, AML, and fraud processes. If you go solo, you must manage this relationship and meet their onboarding, collateral, risk and reporting requirements on an ongoing basis.
Payment processor
A good payment processor, like Marqeta, acts as the technical connection between your card program, the networks, and the partner bank/BIN sponsor. It provides the infrastructure to issue cards, process transactions in real-time, monitor fraud, and ensure authorizations flow correctly.
Card fulfillment provider
If you’re offering physical cards, you’ll need a partner to manufacture, personalize, and distribute them. Card design, branding, activation, and delivery must all meet network standards.
Customer onboarding and KYC
Regulatory obligations demand that you know who your customers are. That means collecting, validating, and securely storing identity data, and working with third parties or building in-house KYC/AML processes.
Dispute and fraud management
You’ll need infrastructure and trained personnel to handle chargebacks, disputes, and fraud alerts in accordance with network and local regulatory rules.
Customer support
Cardholders expect 24/7 support, especially if something goes wrong. That could mean a multilingual contact center, automated IVRs, or secure live chat - all of which you’d need to staff or outsource.
Compliance and risk monitoring
Compliance isn’t just a box-checking exercise. You’ll need to stay on top of changing regulations and ensure that local regulations are well understood and adhered to if you're operating across multiple geographies.
The alternative: The program managed path
If all of this sounds like a lot, it is. That’s where working with a program manager (PM) can offer significant advantages.
A program manager provides an end-to-end turnkey card solution. They coordinate relationships with issuing banks, networks, processors, KYC vendors, card manufacturers, and more. Instead of managing a web of third parties, you manage one partner who helps you handle the operational complexity.
Benefits of the program-managed route include:
- Speed to market: Go live in as little as 3–6 months vs. 4–9 months (or much longer) for self-managed programs (depending on your program requirements)
- Lower upfront and ongoing costs: No need to build compliance, support, or fraud teams in-house
- Integrated services: Access to contact centers, IVR, multilingual support, and dispute handling
- No need for your own partner bank or BIN sponsor: Leverage your program manager’s relationships
- Experience and expertise: Learn from their playbook of previously launched programs
- Scalability: Add new features (like credit or rewards) and/or expand into new markets more smoothly
With Marqeta’s API-first platform, you can integrate program management capabilities into your stack without compromising agility. You maintain control of the customer experience and product features, while outsourcing much of the regulated, operational heavy lifting.
Who should consider managing their own program?
Despite the complexity, there are cases where managing your own program might make sense, especially for companies with:
- Significant regulatory or compliance teams already in place
- Large in-house technical resources
- A long-term vision that demands full control and ownership
- Unique or deeply verticalized use cases that require highly customized infrastructure
However, these are usually scale-stage businesses, not early-stage startups or companies launching their first card product. For most companies, the opportunity cost of building the foundation from scratch outweighs the theoretical benefits of full control.
What about ongoing operations?
Even after your program goes live, you’ll need to manage business-as-usual (BAU) activities like:
- Marketing, including complying with network branding rules for card art and ads
- Ongoing KYC/AML reviews and refreshes
- Cardholder support, including dispute resolution and fraud reporting
- Ongoing compliance with both existing and new regulations
- Risk monitoring and fraud handling
- Reporting to partners and regulators
If you go solo, you need the internal capacity to handle all of this and build a compelling cardholder experience. With a program manager, much of this can be handled on your behalf.
Final thoughts: Start with your objectives
Deciding whether to manage your own card program ultimately comes down to your strategic priorities, resources, timelines and risk tolerance.
- If you’re an early-stage company or a brand launching its first card, the managed route provides speed, simplicity, and compliance.
- If you’re a mature fintech or enterprise with global ambitions, managing your own program may unlock the flexibility you need, but it comes with a long ramp-up and heavy resource and compliance overhead.
At Marqeta, we support both approaches. With deep experience as a program manager and robust APIs for customized builds, we help businesses, small and large, across verticals - from insurance to travel, retail to gig economy, lending to gifting - launch and scale card programs that match their ambitions.
Whatever path you choose, the decision shouldn’t be taken lightly. The success of your card program hinges not just on your idea, but on how well the moving parts behind it come together. Get the infrastructure right, and you’ll have the foundation to build customer loyalty, drive new revenue, and tap into the future of payments.
Ready to learn more about card program management? Start here.
