Stripe Enables Corporates To Create Their Own Cards

Payments company Stripe is rolling out a new solution that lets businesses create and issue their own credit and debit cards, the company announced on Thursday (July 26).

In a press release, Stripe announced the launch of Stripe Issuing, its service that enables companies to create their own cards, both physical and virtual, via an API call. The company noted that its solution lowers barriers to entry and accelerates the time it takes for a business to issue its own cards, which, Stripe noted, can be used for a variety of scenarios.

Stripe highlighted a few use cases, including providing employees with company cards for expense management, linking consumers to debit cards to provide banking services, or offering cards to on-demand service providers, like food couriers that need to make a purchase on behalf of a customer.

The solution is certified with all major card networks, Stripe noted, and issued cards can be used in the Apple Pay and Google Pay platforms. Virtual cards can be used with mobile wallets, while physical cards can have customized designs. Businesses that issue their own cards can set limits on spend amount and categories, while Stripe Issuing automates processes like report generation, card replacement and dispute management.

“Stripe Issuing fills an equally deep and broad hole in the internet’s economic infrastructure as Stripe’s original payments products did,” said Stripe Issuing Head Lachy Groom in a statement. “Stripe Issuing provides businesses a complementary set of tools for managing, controlling, spending and moving money. As we work to increase the GDP of the internet, we don’t just want to port offline commerce online; we want to enable brand-new types of businesses that couldn’t exist without the internet, including new ways to store and use money in the physical world.”

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Groom added that while Stripe has addressed some problems with accepting money online, “businesses still have trouble moving money.”

The company did not reveal which partners have been testing Stripe Issuing, but Groom did note several other ways some of those partners have been using the solution, including providing contractors with cards to make purchases while running errands, or providing fuel cards to drivers of car-sharing companies.

Stripe receives a portion of each transaction made with the cards, reports noted, adding that it will share some of that revenue with the business customers using Stripe Issuing in the form of cash back.