TECHNOLOGY CARTES 2015 Instant cards C ardholders are 22 percent more likely to be verytoextremely satisfied with their bank if they have received an instantly is sued debit card instead of a card sent by mail, according to a new Javelin study sponsored by Entrust Datacard. <...> The study al so found that cardholders who receive their card instantly in a branch of ten start using it immediately. <...> As consumer expectations for ondemand services rise, a growing num ber of banks and credit unions are shifting debit card distribution from mail delivery to instant issuance. <...> The new study, “InstantIssuance Payment Cards: Fulfilling Consumer Expectations for Immediacy,” pro vides insights into how banks can optimize their inbranch experience and build customer trust by offering instant card issuance services. “While financial institutions traditionally focus on the monetary benefit of instant issuance, our research shows it can also empower them to ad dress growing customer demand for immediate service — from opening a new account to replacing lost or stolen cards,” said Nick Holland, analyst for Javelin Strategy and the study’s lead author. “Notably, smaller institu tions, such as community banks and credit unions, are leading adoption of instant issuance to gain a competitive advantage over their larger peers.” Other key findings from the study include: Customers value the convenience of instant issuance and its halo ef fect extends to overall satisfaction with their bank. <...> Instantissuance cus tomers are more likely to believe their bank is innovative (64 percent vs. 48 percent) and a great finance partner (57 percent vs. 45 percent). <...> Up to 40 percent of centrally issued debit cards are never activated, but activation may reach 100% for instantly issued cards. <...> Executives at fi nancial institutions placed activation rates at 60 percent to 70 percent for centrally issued cards while activation of instantly issued cards in branch can reach up to 100 percent. “A bank’s top priority is <...>