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First National Bank of Omaha Tuesday gave the trend of virtual card issuing a boost with the launch of Bend, a suite of embedded open, application programming interfaces that enable the integration of financial services, such as customized virtual cards, into existing environments. Brands can use Bend to roll out credit card programs and embed them within their applications.
The service is being launched in partnership with virtual card issuing platform Marqeta Inc., which will make its open APIs available to brands, fintech and technology platforms partnering with First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) to issue virtual credit cards that deliver cardholder experiences that fit their brand.
In addition to serving as card issuer, FNBO will provide credit underwriting services and program management capabilities, including compliance and risk management. Companies issuing virtual cards through FNBO can use Marqeta’s self-service dashboard to configure and manage card products in real-time, which can increase speed to market for their credit cards.
The genesis for Bend grew out of banking-as-a-service and embedded finance, two trends FNBO believes will continue to disrupt the credit card industry.
“After extensive research and feedback from our existing and potential customers, we saw an emerging need to offer a modular system of credit card services that could be sold as an entire product or modularized and offered as services,” Marc Butterfield, senior vice president and head of Bend for FNBO says by email. “We believe this serves an entire quadrant of customers that have built amazing digital banking experiences and are looking for the next set of lending and credit products to offer these customers.”
Looking ahead, Butterfield says FNBO is developing other services financial services companies can customize around their brand. In addition to virtual credit cards, Bend users have access to other services such as analytics, dispute resolution, integrated marketing support and customer service.
“Bend is the platform that enables credit-as-a-service and consumer credit card is the first product vertical offered by FNBO,” Butterfield says. “We have other products we are working on to enable into services that we’re excited about.”
A family-owned, independent bank, FNBO specializes in managing cobranded credit card programs. The addition of Bend adds a modular credit card service for developing API-embeddable credit products to its portfolio of products and services.
“From our technology, charter, governance and enablement, we’re truly a one-stop shop for digital brands interested in a credit card program,” Butterfield says. “Bend by FNBO is a balanced blend of ‘As-a-Service’, embedded lending and fintech.”
