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As a business that relies on prepaid, debit or spend cards - whether for customer payouts, gig economy payroll, or incentives - you don’t want to worry about what’s happening behind the scenes. You just want your card program to work reliably and securely.
That’s where your payments partner comes in. At Berkeley, we manage everything from card design, branding and KYC processes to fraud protection, compliance, and client-facing portals. We make sure every swipe, tap, and transfer happens exactly the way it should, no matter how complex your business needs are.
Underneath it all is a critical piece of infrastructure called the issuer processor. That’s the system that authorizes transactions, enforces limits, updates balances, and routes payments securely through the banking networks. And not all processors are created equal.
To deliver the speed, scalability, and reliability our clients expect, we knew it was time to move beyond legacy infrastructure and invest in a future-proof, cloud-native foundation.
The Problem with Legacy Systems
Legacy issuer processors were once the gold standard, but today they are more of a liability. These systems were built for a slower, more rigid financial world. They rely on mainframe-based architecture, monolithic codebases, and manual processes that make even small changes feel like a full-scale engineering project. That might have been acceptable a decade ago, but today it’s a deal-breaker.
Here’s what businesses are up against when they rely on legacy processors:
- Sluggish rollout times - Up to 50% slower time to market for new programs.
- Inflexibility - Rigid configurations that can’t easily adapt to changing requirements.
- High operational costs - 20-30% more expensive to maintain and update.
- Complex change management - Delays and added risk with every new feature or compliance tweak.
Whether you’re an insurance company handling large-scale disbursements, a fintech building banking-like experience, or a staffing firm paying thousands of gig workers, you can’t afford to wait months to launch (or fix) your payment programs.
What Cloud-Native Issuer Processing Brings to the Table
Cloud-native issuer processors are built from the ground up to meet the demands of modern financial services, opening up entirely new possibilities as compared to the legacy systems they are replacing.
Here’s what sets them apart:
- Agility and scalability - Need to scale from 10,000 to 10 million cardholders? Launch in a new country? Adjust rules mid-campaign? Cloud-native platforms can do all of this without breaking stride.
- Real-time transaction visibility - Every transaction can be tracked and responded to in real-time, enabling smarter fraud prevention, faster support resolution, and tighter control.
- API-first architecture - Rather than working through clunky middleware, cloud-native systems expose features directly through APIs. That makes building and iterating new features faster and far more efficient.
- High availability and resilience - Distributed infrastructure and automated capabilities allow for 99.9% uptime or better. Put simply, your program stays online even under pressure.
- Cost-efficiency - With no physical servers to maintain and infrastructure that adapts to your usage, you save money while gaining performance.
It’s no surprise that over 90% of fintechs launched in recent years adopted cloud infrastructure and that financial services are expected to account for more than 20% of global cloud spend by 2026.
Our Success Story: How Berkeley Migrated 300,000 Cards in Under 5 Months
At Berkeley, when we set out to modernize our infrastructure, our underlying goal was to unlock a new level of service for our clients.
We partnered with Episode Six, a leading cloud-native issuer processor, to transition our card programs with speed and precision. In just under 5 months, we migrated more than 300,000 active cards without service disruption and with major performance gains:
- 300% improvement in API speed
- 40% increase in throughput
- System availability improved from 98.3% to 99.99%
- Monthly outages reduced from three to zero
While these are impressive technical metrics, what matters most is the agility they enable, along with faster launches, real-time configurability, and a platform that won’t hold clients back as they grow.
What This Means for Berkeley Clients
With a modern, cloud-native issuer processor behind our platform, Berkeley clients gain an even stronger foundation for their programs, without losing the personalized support and flexibility they’ve come to expect.
- Faster time to market - Launch new card programs or enhance existing ones in weeks, not months.
- More reliable infrastructure - Enjoy always-on availability, even during peak periods.
- Stronger compliance and security - Real-time data and layered fraud protections ensure programs stay compliant and secure.
- Agility to evolve - Expand into new markets, support new use cases, or adjust rules on the fly as needs change.
- Future-ready flexibility - Whether it’s spend cards with embedded controls, virtual cards for remote teams, or new loyalty experiences, we’ve got the infrastructure to support it.
Put simply - you get the same tailored experience you’ve always had from Berkeley, just faster, smarter, and more scalable.
Future-Proofing with the Right Partner
The payment infrastructure that supports your business is key to keeping you ahead of your competitors. That’s why we chose Episode Six as our issuer processing partner. By combining Berkeley’s deep experience as a program manager with the performance and flexibility of cloud-native processing, we’re giving our clients the tools to build and scale whatever comes next.
If your business is ready to move faster, scale more efficiently, and deliver better payment experiences, now is the time to take a closer look at your infrastructure and your partners.
Let Berkeley help you modernize, simplify, and scale your payment program. Let’s chat!
