You may see a number of Online Forex & CFD brokers issuing their own co-branded debit card for its clients, sometimes even for Free.

Deposit/Withdrawal fees are also free with some brokers through their own co-branded debit card though, what are the merits for Forex brokers issuing debit cards?

The reason is not just a promotion for their brand, but there are other motives….

Let us get into more details of the service details of co-branded debit card issued by Online Forex & CFD brokers.

FX Brokers issue “Co-Branded” Card with Partnered Companies

There are mainly three types of Credit/Debit card in the world, which are “Proper Card”, “Issuer’s Card” and “Co-branded Card”.

The “Proper Card” is issued by the major international card brand directly. “Issuer’s Card” is issued by the companies who have acquired certain license to issue cards from these major international card brand.

On the other hand, “Co-branded Card” is offered by the companies(or entities) who issue cards for their clients with the cooperation of the companies who have acquired the license from the major international brands.

The Debit Card issued by Online Forex & CFD Brokers are the third one.

5 Major International Card Brands

If you have a credit/debit card, your card may have a brand mark, such as “VISA” and “Mastercard”.

But these names are not the issuer of the cards actually. Your cards are most likely issued by the agencies who have acquired the license to issue the cards.

There are mainly 5 major international brands issuing credit/debit cards, which are:

1. VISA
2. Mastercard
3. JCB
4. American Express
5. Dinersclub

It is very difficult to build up their own payment system for the whole world for some small/medium companies, so these companies normally use the system of above 5 international companies.

The “Proper Card” is the card issued directly from the above 5 companies though, “VISA” and “Mastercard” do not issue “Proper Card”, but only “JCB”, “American Express” and “Dinersclub”

Then Who can issue “VISA” and “Mastercard”?

In order to issue “VISA” or “Mastercard”, a company needs to be licensed to become an “Issuer” of their branded cards.

Normally, users of credit/debit card wouldn’t know who are the “Issuers” but they will only know which international brand is their card brand.

Financial Companies like Forex brokers, need to partner up with the “Issuers”. Then if the “Issuers” accepts the offer, the “Issuers” may  issue co-branded credit/debit cards for the Forex brokers.

Forex brokers do not issue anything or have authorization to take care of issues of the co-branded credit/debit cards.

Why Forex brokers issue the Co-Branded Cards?

So, why the Forex brokers want to pay for all the trouble with these “Issuers” in order to issue a normal card?

There are mainly 4 advantages for issuing Co-Branded cards.

Promoting their Brand

By issuing their Co-Branded Credit/Debit Card, the companies can simply promote their brands through other medias.

It is very important to making users get used to the name of the brand through promotions, and issuing cards should help a lot too.

Surrounding the Clients

A Forex broker can make sure that by issuing co-branded cards, they can almost make sure that the clients will stay with the company.

Already issued a car for the company, why would a client leave the company too soon?

Accumulating Points

When clients using the Co-branded cards, the Forex broker can earn some points from the “Issuers”.

The points may be a too little profit for financial companies though, the merit is still the merit.

Low Cost of Deposit/Withdrawal

Using a service of complete different payment companies may cost the companies some, but if the card is co-branded, well it surely costs less.

By issuing co-branded cards, Forex brokers can save a lot of money for processing fund transfers.

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At the end, if your broker is offering you their own Co-branded credit/debit card, it is simply very useful for traders.

Unless you have your own optimal transfer methods for your broker, why not issue one and use it for your trading and shopping together.