Card Issuing Platforms Expand Beyond Cards Into Global Payments and New Rails

The Shift from Card-Centric to Multi-Rail Orchestration

The business model for issuer processors has reached a functional inflection point. Companies such as Lithic and Marqeta are no longer content with merely powering card programs; they are now building comprehensive payment hubs. Lithic’s August 13 partnership with Monavate exemplifies this strategy by consolidating regulated issuing, network memberships, and settlement into a single stack. This integration is designed to reduce the operational friction companies face when launching complex financial products across multiple jurisdictions.

Marqeta, which reported a 32% year-over-year increase in processed volume to $120 billion in the second quarter of 2026, is leading the charge in expanding the perimeter of its platform. According to the company’s recent earnings disclosures, expense management volume surged by 50%, while lending and Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products grew by 40%. These metrics reflect a broader trend where issuers move upmarket, capturing the account infrastructure that surrounds the card itself.

For firms struggling to manage fragmented payment stacks, the complexity of modern treasury operations often necessitates a shift toward unified providers.

Commercial Payments and the Globalization of Issuing

Commercial customers increasingly demand a unified interface for diverse payment types. Marqeta CEO Mike Milotich noted during the firm’s recent earnings call that commercial clients are prioritizing platforms capable of handling ACH, wire transfers, and push-to-card capabilities alongside traditional card issuing. This demand is driven by the reality that the majority of B2B payments occur off-network, leaving firms to juggle multiple banking relationships.

Geography remains a primary growth vector. Marqeta reported that international volume now accounts for 20% of its total processing volume, with significant expansion into Australia, Japan, Singapore, Brazil, and Mexico. The firm’s European expansion, bolstered by the acquisition of TransactPay and an increased presence in 30 countries via Banking Circle, underscores how rapidly these platforms are scaling globally to meet the needs of their enterprise customers.

As companies expand into these volatile regulatory environments, the legal and compliance hurdles can become significant bottlenecks.

Expanding the Perimeter: From Issuing to Acquiring

The definition of an issuer processor is expanding to include merchant acquiring, effectively closing the loop on the payment cycle. Highnote, an embedded finance company, moved to integrate U.S. merchant acquiring last year, placing merchant pay-ins on the same platform as payouts. By utilizing a common ledger, these platforms provide a holistic view of liquidity that traditional, siloed systems cannot match.

This convergence of issuing and acquiring allows platforms to compete for the accounts surrounding card transactions, including risk services and non-card settlement models. Lithic’s recent collaboration with Lightspark, which utilizes Lead Bank for Visa card issuance and USDC for settlement, highlights how these processors are now facilitating digital asset integration within standard payment workflows. This evolution suggests that the card is no longer the destination, but merely the entry point for a much larger B2B payments relationship.

As these processors continue to capture more of the corporate wallet, the pressure on legacy financial institutions to modernize their internal systems will intensify.