By: Hector Allende, Strategic Product Manager at PSCU 

The world has become accustomed to a culture of convenience and immediacy. Accelerated by the pandemic, this digital shift has permeated nearly every aspect of society. From same-day order pickup at big-box retail stores and ordering food delivery via apps to binging the latest show or movie on streaming services, consumers are now accustomed to a world of instant (or near-instant) delivery and gratification. 

Convenience and immediacy also impact how people want to pay for goods and services. Digital banking and contactless forms of payment have become the standard preference for consumers — cash is no longer king. An ever-increasing number of cardholders trust digital payments and enjoy the convenience of purchasing goods through e-commerce and by using digital wallets, whether the digital wallet is on their computer, mobile phone or smartwatch. 

However, an unfortunate reality of digital payments is that they can lead to fraud or data breaches, which means that cardholders often need to get issued a new credit card. Gone are the days when a cardholder patiently waits four-to five business days for a new, physical credit card to be mailed to them. Cardholders also dislike having to manually update their credentials for automated payments tied to the previous card. 

There is room for growth in the digital payments space, especially through digital issuance — the secure, real-time ability for members to digitally transact without interruptions, even in the absence of their physical card. Digital issuance is made possible through the push provision of cards from their financial institution’s app to their digital wallet, by providing access to their card credentials within their financial institution’s app, and by updating the card on file in real-time after a lost/stolen/data breach reissue. 

Big banks are largely the first to market on digital issuance and as such, thanks to its convenience and immediacy, rise to the top of the wallet while cardholders await the arrival of their new card. To stay competitive, digital issuance is now a must-have for credit unions in order to create the seamless, uninterrupted payment experiences that cardholders demand.

Benefits 
Cardholders expect sophisticated digital banking experiences and will use the cards that provide the most value and convenience, especially ones that include digital issuance’s push provisioning capabilities. Credit unions offering digital issuance can promote it as an added benefit of doing business with them and gain the coveted top-of-wallet status. Additional digital issuance benefits for cardholders and issuers include the following:

• Continual transacting
  Whether it’s a lost/stolen card or a data breach reissue, credit unions can provide the cardholder their new card digitally so they can keep transacting. The cardholder doesn’t have to manually enter their card details into their digital wallets and avoids the window of a missed reoccurring payment with their card-on-file merchants. They can also access the full card credentials for online shopping. The cardholder never experiences the four- to five-day downtime of waiting for a physical card.
• Wherever and whenever
  Instant digital issue is convenient, especially when the cardholder is out of town or out of reach — the credit union still has an option to get their card to them, without the cardholder having to make an in-person trip to the branch.
• Issuer advantages
  Digital issuance can provide the best functionality for digital credit card openings, enabling a digital-first credit card application that is easy to implement. In addition to helping grow credit card portfolios, it can drive new member acquisition as consumers can apply for credit union membership while applying for their new credit card.

Credit unions can achieve the coveted top-of-wallet status and superior margins amongst the competition by providing digital issuance and other digital supportive solutions. Not sure how to accomplish digital issuance on your own? Partner with a fintech credit union service organization (CUSO) to help. Thanks to years of research and investment, fintech CUSOs can give your credit union access to the technology needed to implement digital issuance. Credit unions must move to offering digital issuance if they want to stay competitive and meet the expectations of their members. It’s no longer about retaining “top-of-wallet” status in the physical sense, it’s now about retaining “top-of-digital-wallet” status. 

Hector Allende is Strategic Product Manager of Product Management at PSCU. In this role, he is responsible for the vision, design and growth of various Digital Payments solutions to help deliver winning payment solutions to the financial services industry. Hector joined PSCU in 2011 and has experience managing a variety of solutions, including the successful implementation of Digital Wallets, Alerts and Controls and Digital Issuance offerings. He has been in the payments industry for 25 years and specializes in Digital Payments.