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Issuing Physical Cards

Interlace offers card issuance options depending on your branding needs: customizable white-label cards, blank cards, or Interlace-branded cards.


Physical Card Issuance Process Overview

Scenario 1: Customizable White-Label Cards

If you need a customized card with your branding, follow these steps:

  1. Design the card front and back.
  2. Issuing bank approval (~1 business day).
  3. Card organization approval (1~2 weeks).
  4. Manufacturing sample cards (2~4 weeks).
  5. Mass production of cards (8~10 weeks).
  6. Create a physical card.
  7. Card shipment.
  8. Card activation.
  9. Ready for use (online and offline).

Scenario 2: Blank or Interlace-Branded Cards

If you don’t require customization and prefer blank or Interlace-branded cards:

  1. Create a physical card.
  2. Card shipment.
  3. Card activation.
  4. Ready for use (online and offline).

API Integration Workflow

💡 Important Notes:


• This workflow applies to IQ and BZ BIN.


• Applying for a physical card requires full KYC information, for both business and consumer use.

For IQ and BZ BIN Cards

Step 1: Create a Physical Card

Notes:

  • To use a custom card design, submit your design to your Account Manager. After it has been configured, contact your Tech Support Engineer to obtain the corresponding physicalCardDesignId.
  • If physicalCardDesignId is not provided, the system will issue the default blank white card.
  • The card will be in a pending state until activated and cannot be used for any transactions (online or offline).

Step 2: Add Shipping Information

  • Use the Physical Card Shipping API to add shipping details.
  • For bulk shipments, include multiple cardIds. The maximum number of cards per shipment is 1000.

Step 3: Activate the Physical Card

The activation process depends on partners' KYC management models. See KYC Management Models​ for details.


Standard KYC Flow

For partners with Standard KYC model, follow the standard card activation process:

  1. For named_individual and consumer cardholders:
    • Use the Card Activation API to activate the card directly, as KYC has already been completed.
  2. For corporate_managed cardholders:
    1. Generate a KYC URL using the Genenrate Cardholder Identity URL API and guide the cardholder to complete identity verification.
    2. Once KYC is approved, the system will automatically associate the physical card with an eligible named_individual cardholder under the same KYB profile, or create a new one if needed. The card will then be migrated automatically without any additional client action.
    3. Use the Card Activation API to activate the card. After successful activation, the physical card will operate under the named_individual cardholder tier, including access to expanded MCC categories and the applicable card limit.

Partner Managed KYC Flow

For partners enabled with Managed KYC, follow the verification flow below:

  1. Use the Trigger Cardholder KYC Verification API to initiate KYC verification process.
    • For corporate_managed cardholders, the system will upgrade the cardholder tier to named_individual.
    • For named_individual and consumer cardholders, the cardholder tier remains unchanged.
  2. Use the Card Activation API to activate the physical card.
  3. If KYC verification fails, use the Delete Cardholder API to remove the rejected cardholder information. Collect the required cardholder information again and create a new cardholder.

Important:

Step 4: Set Card PIN

  • Use the Update Physical Card PIN API to set a PIN for the physical card.
  • The PIN will be required for ATM withdrawals and in-store transaction verification.

For Instant Issuing

What is Instant Issuing?

Instant issuing refers to the process where cards are issued without specific cardholder details during creation, and real cardholder information is collected and verified at the time of activation.

Supported BIN:

Currently, only the Interlace Own HK Visa BIN supports instant issuing, and it is available exclusively for MOR-mode clients.

Usage Recommendation:

  • Instant issuing is ideal for early product launches or large-scale acquisition campaigns, such as marketing events.
  • Not recommend for long-term physical card issuance due to operational complexities.

API Workflow for Instant Issuing – Consumer Use Programs

Step 1: Create Physical Cards

  • For Consumer use projects, due to the mandatory cardholder KYC requirement, bulk card creation must be performed via the Dashboard (Merchant Portal).
    • A single batch can create up to 100 cards at a time.
  • During card creation, enter your company name or brand name as the cardholder name.
  • Cards will remain in a pending state until activated and cannot be used for any transactions (online or offline).

Step 2: Add Shipping Information

  • Use the Dashboard (Merchant Portal) to handle bulk shipping.
    • Fill in the mailing addresses for shipments.
  • For bulk shipments, you can include up to 1000 cards per shipment.

Step 3: Link Physical Cards with Cardholder

This step requires building a custom UI to collect the full physical card number (PAN) from users. Optionally, you can also collect the CVV for additional security. The goal is to match the physical card to the corresponding cardId in your system and link it to the cardholder’s account.


Why Is This Necessary?

  • Transaction Requirements: The cardId is needed for recharges, withdrawals, and balance management.
  • Account Matching: It ensures the physical card is linked to the correct user account in your system.

Steps to Link Card Information

  1. Collect Card Details: Use your custom UI to securely collect the full card number (and optionally CVV) from your users.
  2. If PCI DSS LEVEL 1 Certification is Available:
    • Use the Get Private Info API to retrieve the full card number (PAN) for each card ID in your system.
    • Loop through the card IDs to find a match with the user-provided card number.
  3. If PCI DSS LEVEL 1 Certification is NOT Available:
    • Contact your Relationship Manager to register on the whitelist.
    • Use the card information export function to obtain the special encrypted field.
    • Import the card ID and the special encrypted field into your backend system.
    • Match the full card number to the corresponding card ID and complete the linking.

Notes:

  • Avoid Storing Full Card Details: For security reasons, do not store the full card number or CVV. Only retain the card id for reference.

Step 4: Activate the Physical Card

  1. Generate a KYC URL using the Genenrate Cardholder Identity URL API and guide the cardholder to complete identity verification.

  2. Once KYC verification is completed, use the Card Activation API to activate the card.

Step 5: Set Card PIN

  • Use the Update Physical Card PIN API to set a PIN for the physical card.
  • The PIN will be required for ATM withdrawals and in-store transaction verification.

For Pre-printed Physical Cards

What is Pre-printed Physical Card?

Pre-printed physical cards are produced and delivered in bulk before being assigned to individual cardholders. You can keep the cards in inventory and issue them to cardholders as needed after KYC verification.

Supported BIN:

Currently, pre-printed physical cards are supported only for the BZ BIN and are available to MoR-mode clients.


API Workflow for Pre-printed Physical Cards


Step 1: Order and Store Pre-printed Cards

Before ordering pre-printed cards, contact your Account Manager to request access to this feature. Once approved and enabled, you can start ordering card inventory.

  1. Check Available Inventory

    • Use the Get PrePrint Card Stock API to check your current inventory and how many additional pre-printed cards you can create.

    • Cards that have been activated or set to Inactive before activation no longer count toward your inventory limit.

    • If the number of cards requested exceeds your available inventory, the request will be rejected.

  2. Create Pre-printed Cards

    • Use the Batch Create PrePrint Cards API to create pre-printed cards.
    • You can create up to 1,000 cards per request, subject to your available inventory.
    • cardMode defaults to PHYSICAL_CARD.
    • For Budget Cards, create a budget first (Budget API) and provide the budgetId when creating the cards.

  3. Submit Shipping Information

    • Use the Physical Card Shipping API to submit the shipping information.

    • Each package can contain up to 500 cards.

  4. Receive and Store the Cards

    • The cards are produced with card credentials and EMV chip data but are not yet assigned to individual cardholders.

    • A Card Reference ID is printed on each card envelope. Use this ID to identify the physical card and match it to the corresponding cardId in your system.

    • Once received, securely store the cards until they are ready to be issued.


Step 2: Assign and Activate a Physical Card

When you are ready to issue a pre-printed card to an end user:

  1. Complete Cardholder KYC

    • Use the Generate Cardholder Identity URL API to generate a KYC URL and guide the cardholder through identity verification.

    • For cardholders from Mainland China, you can use the Confirm Cardholder Identity API to submit the front and back images of the cardholder's ID card and their email address for OTP verification.

  2. Activate the Physical Card

    • Once KYC is approved, use the Activate Physical Card API to assign the card to the verified cardholder and activate it.

Updated 2 days ago

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