Europe’s top 5 white-label card issuing platforms

The leading white-label card issuing platforms give businesses instant access to Visa and Mastercard rails, embedded compliance by design, and programmatic control over card issuance. For Europe’s fintechs and startups, that means slashing development time and sidestepping licensing complexity. But one challenge remains: choosing the right platform to build on.

How three businesses use branded card programs

In simple terms, the best white label card issuing platforms typically help customers to de-risk a complex and costly process: branded card programs. So who has done this in practice? Well-known retailers and brands are among the use cases.

1. Starbucks delivers rewards and stored value

Consider the Starbucks Card, for example. Introduced in 2001, the card allows customers to preload funds for use at Starbucks cafés. The coffee chain later integrated the My Starbucks Rewards program and the Starbucks Card Mobile App, enabling customers to pay via their smartphones, check balances, and access loyalty rewards. 

2. Driving group revenue with 7-Eleven cards

Or look to Japan, where 7-Eleven provides the Nanaco card. Nanaco is a prepaid, cash-rechargeable contactless card and loyalty program. The card is fully branded as a 7-Eleven product. It can be instantly issued at 7-Eleven shops, and is usable at all of their parent company’s locations, including Denny’s and Ito-Yokado. 

3. Argos evolves from catalogues to cards

And then there is leading British retailer Argos, which offers an Argos Credit Card to customers with its own logo. The current Argos card — managed by Sainsbury’s Bank and transitioning to NewDay — allows revolving credit on purchases. For shoppers, using the Argos card can yield special promotional financing and points on buys. 

But where should businesses look, if they want to embed card issuing into their product suite and revenue?

Who are Europe’s leading white-label card issuers?

With a readymade EU licence, Intergiro is a potential partner that promises businesses a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) shortcut to launch cards in weeks instead of years. And other strong platforms offer similar turnkey issuing solutions to launch a card product in Europe. Here’s an overview of these capabilities. 

1. Intergiro

Intergiro is an EU-based fintech platform that helps its customers skip the licensing maze and issue cards immediately. The API-driven system supports physical and instant virtual cards and links to e-money accounts. Intergiro weaves compliance-as-a-service, Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money-Laundering (AML) guardrails and PCI-DSS and fraud monitoring across its platform.

• Issue Visa debit cards via API. Create branded physical and virtual cards, enabling cross-border European operations with competitive foreign exchange rates.

• Run mobile apps without code. Businesses can deploy branded banking apps with card tokenisation (Apple/Google Pay), bypassing technical development.

• Instant account funding. Accept SEPA, Visa, or Mastercard payments and instantly settle funds to user accounts, wallets, or sub-accounts. 

• Preview branded cards. The Intergiro card designer tool lets you mock up a branded card in a few clicks.

• Span the payment flow. Combines acquiring, card issuing, and account provisioning through one API, perfect for powering closed-loop payment ecosystems. 

2. Wallester

Wallester is a prominent European fintech company specialising in white-label card issuing and payment solutions. Headquartered in Estonia and licensed by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority, Wallester is a Principal Member of Visa and a participant in Visa’s Ready and Fintech Fast Track programs, giving it broad capabilities to issue and process cards across the European Economic Area. Wallester has promoted its white-label solutions at industry events, such as Seamless Europe.

• Issue unlimited Visa cards. Scalable solutions under a single licence, ideal for high-growth fintechs.

• Manage business without fees. 300+ virtual cards with no monthly fees for mid-sized businesses.

• Spin up instant virtual cards. Tokenised cards deployable via API for embedded finance use cases.

• Provide wallets in local languages. Localised customer experiences more than 25 EEA countries.

• Customise physical cards. Branded metal cards for premium customer experiences.

3. Marqeta

In Europe and the UK, Marqeta has strengthened its local presence to meet regional compliance. Key strengths include a highly configurable system, instant virtual card issuance, and advanced card authorisation controls. The platform is designed for embedded finance, allowing businesses to integrate card issuing and payment capabilities into their customer journeys. All without building separate systems for each jurisdiction.

• Get just-in-time funds. Real-time transaction funding eliminates pre-funded accounts, ideal for gig economies.

• Have pan-European coverage. Marqeta supports card issuance in EU countries and 16 currencies.

• Integrate fraud prevention. Advanced risk controls and 3D Secure authentication for high-risk verticals.

• Use a single API. Launch card programs across in more than 40 markets with one technical integration.

• Guide expense management. Granular limits, such as merchant, category, and geography, via real-time APIs.

4. Treezor

Treezor has established itself as a European leader in Banking-as-a-Service and it has teams in France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. Customers include well-known fintechs, such as Lydia and Qonto. For branded cards for fintechs, Treezor issues Visa cards on behalf of clients, complete with fraud prevention and 3D Secure. Now it offers local IBANs in Germany, Italy, and Spain, enabling clients to streamline financial flows across European markets.

• Full authorisation. Supports online and offline transaction processing for flexible payment scenarios.

• Use local IBANs. Combats IBAN discrimination, critical for acceptance all across Europe.

• Get multi-currency integration. Enables low-cost foreign exchange transactions and global scalability.

• Deploy quickly. Card programs can launch in 15 days with pre-approved BIN sponsorship.

• Handle high-volumes. Treezor has managed more than €3 billion in annual transaction flows prior, proving scalability.

5. SDK.finance

SDK.finance enables partners to issue virtual and physical cards through pre-integrated scheme and BIN sponsors. It holds a PCI-DSS Level 1 certification and supports card payments in-store and online. The platform handles KYC and AML compliance and dispute management, and integration with digital wallets.

• Issue your ideal card. Prepaid and closed-loop cards can be created instantly, which are ideal for gift cards, loyalty programmes and corporate expense management.

• Brand cards in your livery. Issue fully branded debit cards with your providers, with custom artwork and tiered commission structures.

• Accept payments everywhere. Cardholders can pay in-store and online, with real-time authorisation flows managed through SDK.finance’s REST APIs.

• Secure your branded cards. Provide secure PIN management and support customer PIN setup. Provide resets and one-time-password (OTP) flows within the app, all under PCI-compliant encryption and audit logging.

• Provide spend management. Help businesses and finance teams define per-card limits by amount, merchant category, geography or frequency, reducing fraud risk and improving budget oversight.

Final thoughts: where white-label card issuing adds value

Many startups founders and platforms skip building their own card programs so they can focus on core products, leaving a white-label provider handle the management of KYC and AML risk, fraud monitoring, and network integration. And this is the central appeal. White-label card issuing eliminates the heavy lifting of compliance. And licensing for businesses. All while adding payments and loyalty under their own brand.