Why did Cap One discontinue it’s innovative de-coupled debit card? Debit cards are issued by the bank that has a customers’ checking account, and are linked to that account. Cap One was testing a MasterDebit card that could be linked to any checking account. If successful, this could diminish the revenue stream banks receive from debit card transactions — a customer could have their Debit Card at Capital One, irrespective of where they had their checking account.
It’s ironic that on April 3 Capital One received international recognition for product innovation based on this product. On May 2 they announced it was discontinued.
We can only speculate why. Limited consumer acceptance? Possibly. But we think the most likely reason is that Cap One, like the rest of the industry during these difficult times, just doesn’t have the capital to fund expensive new R&D.
We’d be interested in your thoughts.
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