Instant Issuance, Instant Benefits?

Entrust Datacard, which provides identity and secure transaction technologies, said last week that an analysis of financial institutions utilizing the firm’s instant issuance solution — whereby those firms can issue permanent debit or credit cards at branch locations rather than through the mail — are benefiting from what Entrust Datacard called “significant card volume growth.”

Along with that growth in card numbers, said the firm, purchase transactions and volumes are also on the upswing.

The firm said that an analysis of the top 50 debit card issuers in the United States showed that FIs adopting the instant issuance experience typically see 50 percent growth in purchase volumes, with a 34 percent boost in transactions, when measured against FIs that do not offer instant issuance.

In a press release detailing the survey results, Entrust Datacard noted that instant issuance technologies were first adopted by smaller banks and credit unions almost a decade-and-a-half ago. Now, the programs have reached roughly 42 percent of the top 50 debit card issuers, and a customer survey by Entrust Datacard found that 89 percent of financial institutions consider it “mission-critical” to offer “instant issuance” capabilities as part of their card programs. The firm has said that, to date, it has instant issuance deployments at more than 30,000 locations globally, with more than 10.6 million EMV-enabled payment cards issued across the platform in the U.S. in the past year.

In one recent case study tied to instant issuance, Entrust Datacard stated that Woodforest National Bank, a community bank operating across 17 U.S. states and 700 branches, sought to enhance customer experience with an instant issuance solution and also needed EMV capability. The bank signed onto Entrust Datacard’s instant issuance program, utilizing the new Datacard Adaptive Issuance Remote Monitoring and Management software and today has instant issuance at all Woodforest National Bank branches. The initial rollout across 17 key branches in 2014 and later to all locations, said Woodforest officials, helped reduce operating and postage costs tied to new accounts and boost customer satisfaction.