This will give financial institution clients the ability for branch staff to provide consumers in a branch location with a plastic Visa® or MasterCard® branded debit or credit card upon new account opening, or as a replacement for a lost or stolen card.

"With the addition of instant issuance to our central issuance business, Fiserv is the only company that can offer a seamless card issuance solution for financial institutions," said Jorge Diaz, president, Output Solutions, Fiserv. "Because of this, we are able to counsel clients on the best solution to meet their business objectives - whether that is central or instant issuance, or a strategic combination of the two approaches."

There are both strategic and tactical considerations, such as the operating environment, association compliance, product strategy and processor integration that must be considered by financial institutions before deciding to issue cards in a branch. As a leader in payments, Fiserv is able to walk clients through this decision process as well as other aspects of their payment portfolios.

"We work closely with our clients to understand their business goals and how they can reach those goals. Instant issuance is now part of that equation," said Diaz.

Instant issue cards from Fiserv can be delivered using one of two options:

Temporary secure vault cards provide all the benefits of instant issuance without an investment in hardware and software. A non-personalized Visa® or MasterCard® debit card is issued in-branch, providing the majority of customers with immediate access to an account until the permanent card is received in the mail. Cards can be ordered in bulk or with a PIN and stored in a secure vault.
Permanent Instant Issue cards are available for financial institutions that are interested in issuing permanent, personalized cards in the branch. To enable this, Fiserv offers card personalization equipment and Instant Issue software so that financial institutions are ableable to offer a variety of cards including ATM, debit, credit, gift, contactless and EMV cards. Financial institutions also gain access to the same product suite that is available for centrally issued cards including The Card Collection™, a portfolio of nearly 80 research-based designs that clients can use without having to create their own custom designs, as well as full-image photo cards, which allow customers to personalize cards with an image of a vacation, children, pet or artwork.

Fiserv provides a seamless connection between its central issuance bureau and instant issuance solutions deployed at financial institutions. Via that connection, data from every instantly issued card is stored, greatly simplifying the card replacement or reissuance process. In addition, the solution is integrated with the Fiserv card processing platform for seamless activation and single entry.