Apto's Card Programs

Card Programs 101

Why Apto

With Apto card programs, you can launch a card product in days rather than years. We have supported the launch of some of the most innovative card products on the market by handling the following (and more!):

• Issuing consumer or commercial cards - see our Use Cases for more information
• Bank and network approvals
• Custom card branding with your logo and colors
• Virtual and physical cards that are compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay
• Payments via Visa or Mastercad rails
• KYC/KYB and other compliance processes
• Cardholder support

Bank and Network Approvals

Traditionally, launching a card program takes months, or even years. This is because it requires establishing many relationships, completing technical integrations, and obtaining many approvals. At a high level, to launch a card program in-house, you would need:

• Issuing bank:
  • The sponsor for the card program.
  • The process includes strict due diligence, including reviewing and approving your company’s policies and procedures.
  • Requires upfront fees and monthly minimums, as well as multi-year commitments.
• Issuer processor:
  • The backend connectivity to the card networks (Mastercard, Visa, Star, etc).
  • The integration process is difficult to scope as it is not well-documented, and it is cumbersome and time consuming.
  • Requires upfront fees and monthly minimums, as well as multi-year commitments.
• Networks:
  • The Merchant Accepting Networks for the card program. For debit cards, two networks are required (e.g., Mastercard or Visa, and a secondary ATM network).
  • Establishing a brand deal with Mastercard or Visa is difficult without a track record or hard evidence supporting immediate growth.
• Card fulfillment:
  • The physical card production and fulfillment partner for the card program.
  • The process requires coordination with the issuer processor to ensure sensitive card data is handled safely and securely.
  • Requires upfront fees and monthly minimums, as well as multi-year commitments.

The good news is that Apto takes care of all of these hurdles. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. Instead, let us work with our partners behind the scenes so you can focus on designing and building your customer experience and product using our developer tools.

Funding

Apto's Green Program is a consumer debit card program. Behind the scenes, we create a bank account that acts as the card's "funding source". For these cards to work, funds must exist in the underlying bank account.

We provide two options to fund your user's cards: (1) you can load money into your card program’s bank account and allocate funds to cardholders according to their transaction volume; or(2) cardholders can load their respective bank accounts directly.

Cardholders can add funds to their accounts through these methods:

• Debit card
• ACH
• Reload Network (cash, check, ATM)

Additionally, companies can add funds to cardholder accounts from their overall Funding Account either through the Developer Portal or via our Core API.

Note: Access to our Core API is subject to compliance requirements that must be met by our customers.

To learn more about how you can fund your card program and the different accounts associated with it see the "Funding your card program" guide.

Developer tools

To help you get started, Apto provides: (1) Android and iOS SDKs, and (2) GET access to our API.

You should use the SDKs to integrate the card management functionality into your mobile applications. The Mobile SDK is a wrapper around the Mobile API. The UI SDK implements the Mobile SDK and offers built out UI elements for quick integration. They are designed with extra consideration for security and compliance so final user applications interact directly with our platform. The SDKs make it easier to interact with the various API endpoints.

Production API keys for the Green Program are set to GET-only access. This means you will have access to read-only data via the API, and you should use the SDKs to provide card management functionality to cardholders.

Apto offers the following SDKs:

• The Mobile SDK:
  • The Mobile SDK uses the cardholder’s session token so only authorized cardholders can initiate cardholder actions.
  • You build your own UI and use this SDK so your mobile application communicates directly with the Apto Platform.
• The UI SDK:
  • The UI SDK is our white label version of the Mobile SDK - drop it into your existing application or distribute it as a standalone mobile app.
  • The Android and iOS SDKs implement a standard cardholder experience with the ability to configure the look and feel.
  • When you sign up for a Developer account, you can also download Apto’s demonstration app to try out this cardholder app experience.
• The PCI SDK:
  • The PCI SDK provides a compliant solution to share PCI-protected data, such as the card number, expiration date, and CVV, directly with the cardholder.
  • Use this SDK to support digital card and card management use cases without taking on the burden of PCI certification.

Card program features

All Apto card programs includes the following features:

• Physical, contactless cards (all physical cards have digital capabilities)
• Digital or virtual cards compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
• Customizable card designs
• Unique cardholder bank accounts
• Direct deposit
• ATM use

Bank accounts for your cardholders

All cards are issued with an accompanying bank account at our issuing bank which means your cardholders will receive an account number and a routing number. They can load this account directly, and maintain a balance that their card will draw upon for transactions. Please contact our team to learn more.

Digital wallets

All Apto card programs support Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay use. Cardholders can follow the standard Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Pay flows to enter their card details and load their cards. Additional steps are needed to enable push provisioning. For more detail, see digital wallets.

Currency

For USD transactions

Funds in the Green Program are in U.S. dollars. That said, your cardholders can still use their Apto-issued cards to make international transactions. Apto does not charge you anything additional for international transactions, though your cardholders will be charged a 3.00% international transaction fee. Be aware that international transactions are subject to exchange rates as set by Mastercard or Visa.

For foreign currency or crypto transactions

In our Blue Program or Orange Program, you can use foreign currency or crypto currency stored by your cardholders. In fact, Apto’s cards can draw upon any store-of value so long as we can complete a real-time exchange between that store-of-value and the desired fiat currency your user wants to transact with. If you need to work in other currencies or other countries, please contact us.

Card limits

The Green Program includes a set of withdrawal, spending, and transfer constraints, and allows a maximum of one card per cardholder. If you need to exceed these limits, please contact us.

Withdrawal limits

Cardholders can withdraw up to these amounts from their accounts.

Limit	Amount
Total daily maximum withdrawal amount (US)	$500.00
Total daily maximum number of ATM withdrawals	10
Maximum amount of a single ATM withdrawal (US)	$500.00

Spending limits

Cardholders can spend up to these limits each day or per purchase.

Limit	Amount
Total daily maximum of purchases	$5,000.00
Total daily maximum of number of purchases	15
Maximum amount for a single purchase	$5,000.00

Account load limits (via instant transfer)

Cardholders can fund their card account by pulling funds from an external debit card subject to these limits.

Limit	Amount
Total daily maximum instant transfer amount (US)	$5,000.00
Total daily maximum number of instant transfers	10
Maximum amount of a single instant transfer (US)	$5,000.00

Cardholder agreements

All cardholders need to agree to terms, conditions, and policies.

For our Green Program, displaying and collecting consent from cardholders for these agreements is available by default in the UI SDK and Mobile SDK. If you’re designing your own UI, you need to ensure you display or link to the agreements and that your prospective cardholders consent to them. You can link directly to the agreements on the Apto website.

For Blue Program or Orange Program, agreements can be customized to suit your needs.