HSBC's Decoupled Debit Card Enters the (super) Market

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Ill.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—HSBC Finance Corporation's card and retail services business and Pathmark Stores, Inc. have entered into an agreement to offer a multi-purpose rewards and payment card for supermarket customers. The new Pathmark Advantage Payment Card enhances the current Pathmark Advantage Club card by providing an easy and superior one-swipe payment process that also generates loyalty rewards.

A pilot launch is planned for later this year at a select number of stores in New York. The Pathmark Advantage Payment Card program is the first of its kind for a major supermarket chain in the United States that combines loyalty and rewards with decoupled debit functionality all on one card. For Pathmark, the new card provides a unique and cost-effective solution to reward loyal shoppers without having to make any changes at the point-of-sale or sacrificing any efficiency in customer service.

The key benefit to customers is that the Pathmark Advantage Payment Card links a customer's Advantage Club card to their existing bank checking account, offering customers a convenient way to earn rewards and pay for purchases with PIN debit, all on a single Pathmark-branded card.

"We are committed to delivering robust and cost-effective solutions that help our merchants like Pathmark grow sales and differentiate their brand," said Joe Hoff, managing director, retail services, for HSBC. "Our innovative card program provides a powerful tool to streamline operations, while rewarding loyal customers."

"We believe that the Pathmark Advantage Payment Card will provide greater efficiencies for our customers," stated John Derderian, Pathmark's executive vice president of business strategy and marketing. "Using this cutting-edge technology will afford the consumer the added convenience of paying for their purchases with their loyalty card and simplify the transaction process. We anticipate a successful test launch and eventually rolling out the program throughout the entire chain."

HSBC card and retail services issues merchant-branded payment cards for premier retailers and manufacturers, and is among the largest issuers of credit cards in the United States. The new Pathmark-branded loyalty rewards payment card is offered under HSBC's OptiPay loyalty rewards PIN-payment program, leveraging the Tempo(TM) Payment Platform and the Tempo(TM) Payment Network. HSBC's OptiPay program helps retailers manage their checkout costs, engender customer loyalty, and provide consumers with their choice of payment options.

In addition to in-store payments and rewards, Pathmark customers will be able to use the new loyalty rewards payment card at more than 200,000 merchant locations in the U.S. that participate in the Tempo Payment Network.
 

Posted by Mark Rodrigues at 10/19/2007 4:16 PM
Categories: Technology, Debit Card
 

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  • 10/23/2007 5:35 PM Mark wrote:
    "Decoupled debit" is a method of payment in which the traditional demand deposit account (DDA) is untied from the issuer of a debit card. A consumer presents the debit card at the point of purchase, and the request for payment is sent to the debit card issuer, which creates an ACH to debit the account at the cardholder's bank. Payment is directed to the merchant.

    One company that helps banks become involved with decoupled debit is San Mateo, Calif.-based Tempo (formerly Debitman). Tempo initially set out to provide a merchant-friendly alternative to traditional card networks by charging lower interchange fees. Now Tempo unbundles their network so that the debit cards can work with the network of the issuer's choice, rather than being relegated to one card network.

    Perhaps the greatest risk with decoupled credit is the fact that it uses the ACH network. With decoupled debit, because the payment is transfered via ACH, a time lag is involved. You don't really know the money is there as soon as you would with the traditional debit which is linked to a DDA account.

    A bank that doesn't work with decoupled credit will likely lose fee revenue as ACH transactions pick up volume.

    Source: Bank Rate Monitor, Maria Bruno-Britz, "Decoupled Debit Presents Threats and Opportunities to Banks," October 23, 2007.
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