- Local Card Manufacturing, Personalization, and Fulfillment in Canada and the US
- Fast, Large-Scale Migration
- Data Residency Compliance
- Surge-Ready Production
- Collaborative Problem Solving
When Money Must Move Fast, Payment Cards Can’t Slow Things Down
Berkeley Payment Solutions spent the past two decades building the infrastructure that empowers banks, governments, and enterprises to move money to consumers quickly and easily. But sometimes even the fastest payments platform can only move money as quickly as it can get payment cards into people’s hands.
The ability to fund physical prepaid payment cards for consumers is particularly important for government, non-profit, and payroll clients. In these cases, cash disbursements and wage access is of critical importance, especially for recipients that lack access to traditional banking services.
According to the FDIC’s 2023 National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, roughly 18% of US households were unbanked or underbanked, meaning they either had no bank account at all or relied on non-bank services to manage their money. These are populations that Berkeley is uniquely positioned to serve, and it’s why card manufacturing, personalization, and fulfillment are critical to the success of Berkeley’s business model.
About Berkeley Payment Solutions
Berkeley Payment Solutions is a payments infrastructure company that empowers organizations to issue branded cards and move money under their own name, without building the financial infrastructure themselves. Berkeley is a full-lifecycle program manager that handles card issuance, account issuance, funding, and cardholder experience through a single platform, including a full suite of APIs for clients that want to build their own integrations.
Berkeley’s clients span federal, provincial, state, and municipal governments, NGOs and charitable organizations, large payroll and earned wage access (EWA) platforms, and physical card use cases ranging from mall gift card programs to on-site kiosk disbursements at major sports and entertainment venues.
Instantané client
Industrie
Payments Infrastructure / Program Management (Fintech)
Quartier général :
Toronto, Ontario and Dallas, Texas
Produits :
Physical, virtual, and instant issuance cards; account issuance; real-time money movement; banking modernization
Marchés desservis :
Government and NGO disbursements, payroll and earned wage access, gig economy, baking modernization, sports and entertainment, mall and retail gift programs
Partenaire depuis :
2024
Site web
berkeleypayment.com
The Challenge: Migrate Large-Scale Card Programs Without Missing a Beat
At the end of 2024, Berkeley began moving card manufacturing, personalization, and fulfillment work to ABCorp. These programs spanned government relief disbursements, payroll wallets, and consumer gift card programs, all of which had to keep running without disruption.
The migration also had to solve for two challenges that are unique to Berkeley’s business:
- Data residency requirements. For some of Berkeley’s government and benefit program clients, in-country manufacturing is a requirement. Cardholder data and card production need to stay within the same jurisdiction as the program itself, necessitating a partner with on-site manufacturing capacity in Canada and the US.
- Unpredictable surge demand. Wildfire evacuations, holiday retail campaigns, and festival seasons can create sudden spikes in card volume with little lead time. For programs like emergency disbursements, a slow card manufacturing partner can burden people waiting for funds that they need immediately.
ABCorp’s Solution: Local Card Manufacturing, Personalization, and Fulfillment All Under One Roof
ABCorp now serves as Berkeley’s fabrication de cartes, personalization, and fulfillment partner, providing:
- Card manufacturing, personalization, and fulfillment across US and Canadian facilities, meeting the data residency requirements that Berkeley’s government and benefit program clients require.
- Preferred rates with major postal and courier partners for overnight, two-day, and bulk batch shipments, along with custom shipping solutions built for unique scenarios.
- Modernization of legacy card programs with newer, more durable personalization techniques, sustainable material options, and high-end card finishes.
- Scalable production capacity to handle seasonal surges including holiday retail campaigns, winter travel season, and summer festival season.
- A collaborative account team that builds custom solutions quickly, avoiding lengthy development cycles.
What Local, Hands-On Account Support Actually Looks Like
For Berkeley, the value of working with ABCorp shows up most clearly in the moments that don’t fit neatly into a contract. ABCorp’s local, Toronto-based team approaches unexpected challenges in complete collaboration with their clients. For example, when a shipping scenario arose that wasn’t covered in Berkeley’s contract, the team used it as an opportunity to work together and build a solution.
“That just doesn’t happen in many companies. For some card manufacturers, it can take a year to develop a solution. For us, it’s, ‘Let’s get on a call and figure this out together.’ It’s very collaborative, which is the real value that we provide for our customers.”
— Asad Saeed, ABCorp
That same collaborative approach extends to modernizing Berkeley’s existing programs. One large mall operator’s card program that migrated to ABCorp as part of the larger transition was still using legacy card stock. ABCorp’s account team worked directly with the client to explore newer personalization techniques, more sustainable materials, and premium card finishes. Hugh Vagt, Head of Marketing at Berkeley, sees that responsiveness and creativity as core to what makes the partnership work.
“Innovation in payments requires two things: the willingness to solve problems creatively instead of by a playbook, and a partner who will do the same. We have both with ABCorp. That’s what actually matters.”
— Hugh Vagt, Berkeley Payment Solutions
Where the Cards Show Up
Berkeley’s card programs, and ABCorp’s solutions behind them, cover a wide range of use cases for prepaid card programs including:
Disbursements to the underbanked where a physical card empowers consumers avec active, funded accounts on the spot; no traditional bank accounts or apps required.
Centralized pickup programs for governments and relief agencies where non-personalized card stock is shipped securely to a site, then registered and funded in person.
Earned wage access for payroll platforms, letting hourly workers access pay as they earn it rather than waiting a full pay cycle.
Reverse ATM and kiosk-based disbursements at large sports and entertainment venues, converting cash into spendable cards in cashless environments.
Mall and retail gift card programs including premium options for high-end shopping destinations.
The Results: Fast Migration and a Partnership Built to Scale
Since the transition began, ABCorp’s work with Berkeley delivered:
- A phased rollout backed by local support capabilities, ensuring operational stability and zero disruption to live card programs.
- Local manufacturing and data residency coverage across both Canada and the US, meeting compliance requirements that Berkeley’s government and benefit clients require.
- Preferred shipping rates and custom logistics solutions for surge events including holiday, travel, and festival seasons.
- Ongoing modernization of legacy card programs with durable, sustainable, and premium personalization options.
- A responsive, solutions-minded account relationship.
What’s Next: Expanding Into the US, Together
Berkeley is focused on further expansion into the US. Tens of millions of people in the US are unbanked or underbanked, and a significant share of public and relief funds still move via paper checks. Berkeley sees that as a shared opportunity with ABCorp: to bring local US manufacturing capacity together with real-time disbursements and money movement to close that gap. This is particularly true for emergency relief, where getting funds into recipients’ hands within days instead of weeks can matter tremendously.
As Berkeley continues to modernize legacy card programs, expand earned wage access, and grow its US footprint, ABCorp’s role as its dedicated partner is built to scale alongside it.
