Scheme Deal Support

For card issuers, interchange one of the largest income lines on the P&L — yet most have never subjected it to the rigorous analysis it deserves.

Pinnacle's Scheme Deal Support service gives issuers a genuine commercial edge when it matters most — at the negotiating table. Whether you're approaching the end of an existing agreement, migrating a portfolio to a new scheme, or simply want to ensure you're not leaving value on the table, Pinnacle brings the analytical firepower, benchmarking intelligence, and real-world negotiation experience to secure the best possible deal with Visa and Mastercard.

  • End-to-end support from baselining through to final contract signing

  • Full net cost of trading analysis — fees, incentives, and interchange combined

  • Custom operating models built to reflect your specific portfolio and growth scenarios

  • Benchmarking of proposed terms against comparable deals in the market

  • Evaluation of trade-offs across different performance and issuance scenarios

  • Support for both deal renewals and fresh scheme selection exercises

Our Approach

Pinnacle's methodology is structured, data-driven, and relentlessly focused on the numbers — because that's where deals are won or lost. The process begins with a deep baseline of your current position and works through a disciplined multi-phase engagement that keeps yo in the driver's seat while Pinnacle does the heavy analytical lifting.

  • Kick-off workshop and stakeholder interviews to define objectives, constraints, and red lines

  • RFP drafting and issuance to Visa and Mastercard with Pinnacle managing the process

  • Quantitative offer analysis across unlimited issuance and performance scenarios

  • Side-by-side scheme comparison using Pinnacle's proprietary Net Cost of Trading model

  • Structured negotiation support — in writing, via calls, and through multiple offer rounds

  • Contract review to ensure final agreement terms align precisely with the negotiated offer

The Results

Clients who engage Pinnacle for Scheme Deal Support consistently achieve materially better commercial outcomes than they would negotiating alone. The combination of deep market benchmarking, rigorous financial modelling, and experienced negotiators with scheme-side backgrounds delivers results that speak for themselves.

  • Significant improvement in overall deal value — one client secured more than 75% uplift over the term of a renewed agreement

  • Elimination or mitigation of onerous volume targets and clawback clauses that create long-term financial exposure

  • Improved deal composition, with cash incentives maximised over non-cash components for greater flexibility and certainty