Thredd Enters US Card Issuing Market With B4B Partnership

Payments processor Thredd has entered the U.S. debit and prepaid card issuing market.

The company announced this milestone Tuesday (March 19), saying it was happening via an extension of its partnership with B4B Payments.

“Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider, B4B, who has operated in the U.S. since 2021, are now migrating their card payment processing to Thredd to further extend the companies’ partnership from the U.K. and Europe,” the company said in a news release.

“B4B will use Thredd to process dual-branded Visa and STAR Network cards ensuring compliance with the country’s stringent debit processing regulations.”

Thredd said it plans to continue expanding its American customer base by supporting clients and potential clients who want to bring their business to the U.S. The company’s stateside capabilities include debit and prepaid card processing for customers issuing Visa and any U.S.-based PIN network.

Leading the company’s U.S. expansion is new hire Hyung Choi, a veteran of the U.S. payments space who has worked for both Visa and Wells Fargo.

“Our U.S. expansion is a major step for Thredd as it both supports our clients’ expansion objectives and paves the way for our growth in this major payments market,” said Thredd CEO Jim McCarthy. “Making this first move working closely with a trusted client like B4B Payments to further their U.S. business is especially notable.”  

And Kieran Draper, CEO of B4B Payments USA, said that working with Thredd in the U.S. was strategically important for his company as it gives B4B a single platform and processor for all programs in America, Europe and the U.K.

“This provides our global clients with a unique and competitive solution that makes it easy for them to rapidly onboard and scale confidently,” Draper said.

Thredd was known as Global Processing Services before its rebrand 11 months ago. As noted here at the time, the name change was designed to reflect the company’s goal of “weaving together” different elements of the payments ecosystem.

PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster spoke with Thredd’s McCarthy recently on Capital One’s $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial, and the challenges facing that deal.

For example, he said, regulators are likely to be concerned that the two companies would consolidate a major share of the card issuing business and payment networks.

“There’s going to be a really long runway,” on the deal, said McCarthy, “and Capital One has some hard decisions to make about what they will want to be with this combination of assets.”