Commercial Bank of California’s Big ISO Ambitions

Commercial Bank of California’s announcement Tuesday that Group ISO Inc. joined its wholesale independent sales organization program signals greater ambitions for the Irvine, Calif.-based bank.

Group ISO will use CBC’s BIN sponsorship, a term for bank identification numbers, which is required for acquirers to send and receive transactions from card networks and issuers. BINs are the first six numbers used by card issuers to identify their products.

“Commercial Bank of California is focused on exponential growth of our wholesale independent sales organization (ISO) program,” Shahzad Khan, executive vice president and chief growth and strategy officer at the banks, says in an email. “We are a relationship bank and we pride ourselves in understanding customer needs and helping them grow through our sponsorship program. Our goal is to become one of the premier partners in credit card and [automated clearing house] sponsorship programs and one of the largest in the nation, to double our program within [the] 2019-2020 fiscal year. And long term, our goal is to be a top 20 acquiring bank in the USA.”

Khan says the bank is looking for ISOs that are focused and specialized in their verticals and have a stable management team. “Every ISO partner is thoroughly vetted and approved by our management team,” he says. Visa’s online directory of third-party providers lists more than 1,300 U.S. merchant ISOs.

Generally, CBC is looking for ISOs that are able to acquire a balanced portfolio of merchants and are willing to work with the bank, Khan says. CBC is a privately held bank serving businesses and professionals in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Currently, CBS has more than 20 ISOs in the program and intends to double that number, with more announcements expected this year, Khan says.