A whitepaper from Juniper Research, entitled, Unlocking the Next Stage of Growth for Modern Card Issuing Platforms, examines various trends that are now said to be shaping the modern card issuing ecosystem, and the ways in which modern card issuing platforms are able to capture growth. It also includes a forecast for modern card platform revenue internationally in 2030.
Juniper Research explained that modern card issuing platforms are application programming interface (API)-powered issuing solutions which enable issuers to design, launch, and manage payment cards “throughout the entire card lifecycle, with speed, scalability, and security.”
Juniper Research also mentioned in the report that typically, modern card issuing involves the provision of digital and virtual cards and the “instant issuance of physical cards from the bank or a self-service kiosk.”
Virtual cards are those which exist “only in electronic form, whereas digital cards are the digital version of a physical card.”
As stated in the research report the demand for a digital-first experience is growing “rapidly, with no signs of slowing down.”
For issuers, the modern card issuing landscape “offers many favorable
features, which allow businesses to deploy card programs far quicker and with richer offerings compared to legacy issuing systems.”
The report from Juniper Research further stated that old technology stacks are often siloed, and not API-driven, which translates “to slower execution times and high development expenditure.”
Data is often delayed, which limits the “ability to build realtime applications.”
The report added that there is also a high barrier of entry and “costs involved just to get started, which meant smaller fintechs, startups, and non-financial companies were largely excluded because of the unfavourable economics.”
The research report also stated that pre-API stacks now “meant that card products had limited programmability; meaning less control for card programme managers and restricting dynamic solutions.”
In 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic decimated brick-and-mortar footfall an
economic activity “plummeted globally, eCommerce saw a significant surge.”
Contactless payment cards, mobile and digital-first wallets, and virtual cards became some of the “many sought-after features and capabilities that only several card issuing platforms could provide.”
However, in 2025, the landscape has “changed significantly.”
The Juniper Research report further noted that now, there are many modern card issuing platforms, each “with their own stack of offerings and integrations, but almost all offering a standardised issuance solution such as physical and digital-first issuance with major networks, card controls and custom authorisation, real-time insights and reconciliation with instant notification and reporting.”
As explained in the research report, modern physical issuance refers to the process of using “an API-driven, cloud-native issuing platform for designing, producing, and distributing physical payment cards such as debit, credit, prepaid, or commercial.”
This process is quite different from legacy solutions, which “required a long lead time, lacked customisation and personalisation features, and required requests to be sent in batches rather than instantly issued.”
Juniper Research has revealed that the modern card issuing platforms market will increase “from $1.8 billion in 2025 to $4.2 billion by 2030; driven by interest from traditional banks trying to keep pace with fintech offerings.”
Juniper Research identified several trends that are now said to be driving demand in modern card issuing platforms over the next 5 years, “including the rise of Cards-as-a-Service which enables disruptors such as Monzo, Uber, and Coinbase to integrate card issuance within their ecosystems.”
In addition to this, regulatory support for Open Banking and digital-first solutions, such “as tokenisation and push provisioning, is propelling growth in key regions.”