BaaS shifts to loyalty design
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Aaron Huang, Head of Commercial at Productfy, on choosing the right fintech customers
Companies like Cardless, who you may not think about as a BaaS vendor but are an iteration of Marqeta, are going super hard on loyalty programs.
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This shows card issuing getting pulled up the stack, from generic payment plumbing into a loyalty product for specific brands and fan bases. Cardless is not mainly selling raw card infrastructure the way Marqeta became known for. It packages issuing, rewards, digital servicing, and co brand program design so an airline, sports team, or housing network can launch a card that feels like part of its membership program, not a generic bank card.
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Cardless is explicitly built around co branded credit cards with integrated rewards and digital account management. Its current programs include airline cards like Qatar Airways and LATAM, where the card is tied directly to the brand’s loyalty currency and redemption flow.
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That is why it can be described as an iteration of Marqeta. Marqeta made modern card issuing programmable and configurable. Cardless takes that same core idea and wraps it in program management for branded credit, where the real differentiation is reward design, partner acquisition, and user experience around earning and redeeming.
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The Bilt relationship makes the strategy concrete. After proving that rewards can create behavior around rent and neighborhood spend, Bilt moved to a new three tier card program with Cardless for 2026. That points to demand for issuers that can customize loyalty mechanics for a very specific ecosystem, not just process transactions.
The next phase of BaaS and card issuing will be won by companies that help customers invent a better program, not just ship a card faster. As more infrastructure layers commoditize, value shifts toward who can turn spend into a sticky loop of points, perks, and repeat engagement for a defined community.