Commercial banking customers need a complete package of payment solutions from their financial institution, and prepaid is one of the fastest growing opportunities for commercial business.
But banks must balance risk, operational needs and profitability when expanding their product line and becoming an expert in prepaid isn’t always the best move. With that in mind, innovative banks are finding a new way to offer an expanded product portfolio to their customers through partnership.
By collaborating with experts across the payments industry, as banks have done for decades in the ATM, card production and check space, they ensure quality without the burden of additional staff and in-house resources. Outsourced partners manage all of the systems, processes, technology and regulatory considerations behind every program so banks can minimize the time and resources spent on day-to-day product and technology management.
To get started, commercial banks often implement three of the most in-demand prepaid commercial services:
Payroll Card Programs. As check payments continue to decline, banks can help commercial customers reduce costs and time associated with administering, distributing and managing payroll issues, and allow employees to receive payments electronically. Banks that offer payroll programs to business customers drive loyalty and retention by integrating the program into existing direct deposit systems.
Purchasing Cards. Rather than replacing bank credit programs, purchasing cards supplement them by opening up opportunities to new, valuable commercial customers. These businesses may not have access to, or want to take on the risk and personal liability of using credit. These businesses still need paperless purchasing power for employees and want to free themselves from the burden of managing petty cash, checks, paper receipts and reporting paperwork.
Reward/Incentive Card Programs. Did you know that employees prefer open-loop gift cards to any other type of reward or gift? Businesses can use incentive cards to forge relationships with dealers and distributors and incent consumers to buy their products, making it a valuable product offering for commercial banks. But these programs often have fluctuating demand that puts pressure on branch-level resources. By collaborating with an outsourced partner, banks eliminate this resource strain and deliver high-value, customized incentive and reward card programs to business customers.
Have you evaluated your commercial offerings yet this year? What opportunities are you missing to expand your market or grow your existing accounts. Need help figuring out where prepaid fits in? Give us a call.
