Lithic Product Update: May 2024
Welcome to this edition of Lithic’s product newsletter, where we’ll cover some Lithic news, product updates, open roles, new podcasts, and more.
Lithic Offsite in New Orleans
The Lithic team gathered for a full company offsite earlier this month in New Orleans. We brainstormed new ways to deliver more value to our customers and had a blast touring the city.
We also enjoyed catching up with Lithic customers, fintech operators, and key partners at Stripe Sessions, Visa Payments Forum, and the UBS Fintech Conference.
New Guides 📚
We recently prepared a few guides to help fintechs navigate sponsor bank relationships and their processing needs.
- Guide to choosing a sponsor bank: This guide includes a framework for considering sponsor banks' different stages of maturity, and features Shawnet Palmer, Lithic’s Head of Compliance, along with other industry experts such as Matthew Goldman of Totavi, Bryan Mulcahey of FS Vector, and Darin Petty of FinTech Tradecraft.
- How to switch issuer processors: This guide covers key considerations and steps to take when contemplating switching issuer processors.
- What card issuers need to know about 3DS: Lithic partnered with Payments Dive to put together a guide on 3-D Secure (3DS), an authentication process that card programs can use to reduce fraud risk.
- Issuer Processors 101: Everything you need to know about issuer processors. From what they are to how they can help you grow your card program, to figuring out if your issuer processor is the best fit for you.
Customer Spotlight 🔦
In this edition, we’re spotlighting Mercury, which uses Lithic to power debit and credit cards.
Read more about how Mercury scaled cards with Lithic in our case study.
Lithic Product Updates 🚀
We’ve made a host of product improvements to better support and enable your card program. Here’s a round-up of everything we’ve shipped since the last product newsletter.
Lithic Dashboard Redesigned
We revamped the Lithic Dashboard with a new navigation layout, dark mode, and many aesthetic improvements that make it easier and more intuitive to navigate. Check it out for yourself at app.lithic.com and review our Guides to learn more about how you can manage your card program with the Lithic Dashboard.
Sandbox Data Available in Dashboard
The Lithic Dashboard now includes Sandbox data. Sandbox is a test environment that provides a lot of the functionality of the Production API, including the ability to create test payment cards and simulate transactions.
With this data now available in the Dashboard, you can easily view your Sandbox cards, transactions, and disputes. You’ll also be able to simulate critical program activity such as card tokenizations, authorizations, and clearing events directly via the Dashboard.
These additions make it easier for all types of customers to interact with the Lithic platform in Sandbox without needing to make calls to the API directly. Customers can sign up, create an account, and test critical functionality, all without ever leaving the Dashboard.
ACH Prenotes Available for External Bank Account Verification
We launched the support of ACH prenotes to verify external bank accounts, which expands the set of use cases that can build their program on Lithic’s developer-first platform.
Prenotes are particularly useful for programs where not all end-user bank accounts need to be (or can be) verified with end-user involvement, and confirming a bank account information’s accuracy is sufficient. An example is a bill pay use case where the program does not necessarily need to verify that the vendor receiving payment has ownership over the account.
Learn more about how programs can verify external bank accounts in our Guides.
Digital Wallet Tokenizations Available via Dashboard and Webhooks
You can now view digital wallet tokenizations for any card and the details of an individual tokenization in the Lithic Dashboard. With visibility into the digital wallet lifecycle, you can provide better support for end-user accounts.
Plus, we’ve added two new webhooks to our Events API, so you’ll be notified in real-time when key tokenization lifecycle events occur. For example, you’ll be notified when a two-factor authentication code is sent to a cardholder and which method the cardholder selected for authentication—or when a token’s state is modified to activated, suspended, or deactivated.
Read more about the various types of events you can receive via our Events API in our Guides.
Two New Webhook Types Available: Settlement and Financial Accounts
We’ve added two new webhooks to the Events API that allow you to receive more real-time data from the Lithic platform about activity taking place on your program.
The first is a Settlement API webhook. By subscribing to the new settlement_report.updated webhook, you will be notified whenever a settlement report is either created or updated. Using this webhook eliminates the need to poll the API to check for updated data, and you can always rest assured that you have access to the latest settlement data.
The second is a Financial Accounts webhook that allows you to receive a notification every time a new financial account has been created for your program. Listening for this webhook allows you to find out in real-time what the token for the financial account is, rather than having to call a separate endpoint to retrieve it.
Learn more about our Events API and how webhooks work in our Guides.
Open Roles 🤩
We are hiring for a few critical roles on the Lithic team, including:
- Product Manager - Onboarding & Developer Experience
- Senior Software Engineer - Processing
- Staff Software Engineer - Card Program
- Senior Customer Success Manager
New Podcasts 🎧
The Future of Ecommerce Payments with Tandym CTO Sairam Rangachari
Our host Reggie Young dives deep into the world of payments and e-commerce with Sairam Rangachari, the co-founder and CTO of Tandym.
They discuss the cyclical trends in banking, the evolution of online payments, and how Tandym is helping e-commerce companies offer branded cards to enhance the customer experience and reduce processing fees. Sai shares insights from his extensive background in fintech and reveals how Tandym is navigating the challenges of scaling fintech products while fostering innovation.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Compliance 3.0, the Future of Bank Sponsorship, and Lessons from Monzo with Cable CEO Natasha Vernier
Reggie is joined by Natasha Vernier, CEO and co-founder of Cable, to discuss the future of compliance in the fintech industry, known as "Compliance 3.0."
Natasha shares valuable lessons from her time leading the financial crimes team at Monzo during its hypergrowth phase and provides her perspective on the evolving landscape of bank-fintech partnerships. The conversation delves into the importance of automated effectiveness testing, the challenges of selling fintech solutions to banks, and the potential shift toward embedded finance solutions.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Fleet Card Masterclass with Coast Founder Daniel Simon
Reggie interviews Daniel Simon, Founder of Coast, a modern financial services platform revolutionizing the fleet card industry.
They delve into the complexities of fleet payments and discuss Coast's innovative approach, combining modern technology and customer-centric products to disrupt the traditional fleet card market. Key topics include the technical, regulatory, and operational challenges in fleet payments, Coast's unique solutions, and future trends in the industry.
Watch the interview or read the full transcript here.
Or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
