Coupon-on-a-Card allows financial institutions to deliver payment card-linked offers from merchants for seamless consumer redemption securely at the point of sale.

Coupon-on-a-Card will be demonstrated for the first time today by Affinity Solutions at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco - an industry conference that features innovative financial service and banking technology providers and their products.

Affinity Solutions' Coupon-on-a-Card is a next-generation marketing system for financial institutions that delivers and electronically links offers directly to consumers' credit and debit cards and allows these offers to be redeemed in real time. Coupon-on-a-Card significantly impacts the effectiveness of consumer marketing initiatives, including Affinity's Spot ON DealsSM platform, launched in September with Sovereign Bank, while providing a significantly enhanced consumer experience. Spot ON Deals enables merchants to provide the right offer to the right customer at the right time using Affinity's proprietary data analytics. Merchants can then monitor the success of those offers through the Spot ON merchant dashboard. The solution allows credit and debit cardholders seamless redemption of Spot ON Deals and other offerings with Coupon-on-a-Card, instead of using traditional paper coupons.

"The launch of our patent-pending Coupon-on-a-Card is a tipping point in merchant offer delivery for card issuers," commented Jonathan Silver, president and CEO of Affinity Solutions. "Creating new capabilities and effectiveness for the merchant, and a far superior consumer experience, is a significant addition to our industry-leading transaction-based marketing product set. It's also another step in the rollout of our vision for the highly-integrated marketing platform of the future. Rich, cross-industry collaboration, such as our integration with First Data's innovative offer redemption technology, is a key to that vision."

"The First Data OfferWise solution is part of the enabling technology for Coupon-on-a-Card, which will allow card issuers and merchants to dramatically simplify the offer redemption process for consumers," said Dom Morea, senior vice president and division manager of advanced solutions and innovation at First Data. "We are pleased to collaborate with Affinity Solutions toward the realization of this important new capability that will allow our many financial institution clients, their customers and others around the industry to benefit from a truly universal commerce experience."

"Coupon-on-a-Card is an exciting innovation that promises to deliver a superior customer experience," according to Eduardo Tobon, CEO of U.S. cards and payments at Sovereign Bank | Santander. "It's the next logical step for our Spot ON Deals program, which we introduced to Sovereign cardholders last year."

How Coupon-on-a Card Works

When a consumer receives a merchant offer he chooses to accept from his financial institution, he can link that offer to his credit card or debit card so the specific coupon can be automatically redeemed at the time of purchase. For the consumer, this is a seamless experience and eliminates the need to carry around pre-printed coupons. He will always have the coupon handy, right on his card.

As important, rather than having to pay full price and receive a statement credit later - like traditional cash-back offerings today - the coupon will be accepted and the discount deducted instantly at the point of sale. An immediate confirmation of the delivered savings is then provided on the printed receipt or electronically through a mobile application or text or email message.

"Today's consumers are busier than ever. They find it frustrating to have to carry with them a paper deal voucher or coupon for a select merchant; worse yet, they often forget to do so entirely. They also want the immediate gratification of getting discounts at the point of sale," explained Silver. "Affinity's Coupon-on-a-Card offering is exactly what consumers are asking for from merchants, 'an easy to use, always-with-me solution that is convenient and meets my shopping needs.' Adding this convenience and immediacy to our Spot ON Deals platform allows us to better serve our retail and bank customers, and marks another important step toward the realization of our vision of the integrated marketing system of the future."

Consumers are expecting integrated, easy, and secure methods for managing their spending and saving experiences. Coupon-on-a-Card will enable financial institutions to provide seamless and rewarding experiences to their consumers.