Turning Card Issuing Into Software
Meg Nakamura, co-founder and CEO of Apto, on winning underserved markets with card issuing
Finance infrastructure has usually scaled with headcount because too much of the product is really an operations service wearing software clothes. Launching a card program often means humans configuring sponsor bank relationships, network settings, BIN setup, compliance rules, reconciliation, card manufacturing, and exception handling. Traditional providers were built around custom setups for each customer, so every new program added more people to implement, monitor, and support it.
-
Apto’s point is that card issuing has historically involved many manual workstreams just to design, configure, launch, and scale a program. Even standing up the environment and selecting product options often required staff time and manual checks, which makes customer growth track headcount growth.
-
The broader market was built this way. Older processors and many BaaS providers relied on preconfigured templates, legacy processors, and human program management. That helped customers launch, but it also created layers of manual coordination across processor, sponsor bank, network, ledger, and operations teams.
-
That is why developer first issuers like Apto, Lithic, and Highnote all emphasize self serve APIs, modular infrastructure, and automated program management. The strategic goal is not just a better developer experience. It is turning card issuing from a services business into a software business with much higher customers per employee.
The next phase of card issuing belongs to platforms that remove humans from setup, compliance routing, and day to day servicing. As more fintech and software companies embed cards into their products, the winners will be the providers that let a small customer team support many more programs without slowing launch speed or increasing error rates.