Marqeta is powering the new Square Credit Card, Square’s business credit card for sellers, backed by the American Express network.
With the migration to Marqeta, Square is consolidating its debit, prepaid, and credit programs onto one modern card issuer processor, Finextra reports. This reduces operational complexity and enables Square to bring new credit features to market more quickly.
Marqeta’s portfolio migration capabilities allow Square to move existing accounts and card credentials to Marqeta without disrupting the cardholder experience. In 2019, Square partnered with Marqeta to introduce the Square Card, a business debit card for small business owners that provides them with access to earnings immediately and without additional fees, enabling cardholders to reinvest into their business. The Square Credit Card gives Square sellers access to a credit line that grows with their business volume.
Marqeta’s 2026 State of Credit report found that 96% of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) surveyed are intentional about which payment methods they use for a given transaction, signaling demand for both credit and debit offerings. In addition, the research found that 34% of SMBs surveyed have moved between credit products as their business evolved, and 64% want a clear path from entry-level to advanced products. This demonstrates the need for credit offerings to keep pace as small businesses grow.
“Square sellers depend on both credit and debit to run their businesses, and consolidating those programs onto Marqeta’s platform means we can move faster and safer on the products they need,” said Andrea Raj, Head of Product for Square Banking at Block.
“Migrating our existing cardholders without any disruption to their experience was critical, and Marqeta delivered. This is a reflection of the strong partnership we’ve built together over the years.”
Marqeta’s commercial credit solution combines card issuing, processing, underwriting, rewards, controls, dispute handling, and all other necessary services of a single and integrated solution. This gives users the ability to have fine-grained control over their spending and the flexibility to create different account structures, along with decisions being made on the fly thanks to the platform’s 300+ data points.
Marqeta also supports full program management, including bank and network partnerships, regulatory and compliance reporting, customer service, and collections, reducing the need for multiple vendors and accelerating time to market for customers. The addition of American Express to Marqeta’s roster of network partners demonstrates its breadth of network capability and scale.
“Block is one of our deepest and most expansive partnerships, and the work we’re doing together goes well beyond any single program,” said Todd Pollak, Chief Revenue Officer at Marqeta. “This launch is a strong example of what that partnership enables, bringing Square’s full card portfolio onto one platform so they can build and iterate on credit products for small businesses faster than ever before.”
Consolidating the programs on a single platform allows Square not only to lower operational expenses but also to respond more quickly to the needs of sellers who require more flexible and advanced credit tools as their businesses grow.
The importance of migration without service interruptions is particularly noticeable for SMEs, which rely on continuous availability of money for their daily operations since lack of it can bring disruption to their business functioning.
The collaboration between Square and Marqeta, which started with the launch of the debit card in 2019, continues developing with new projects, this time in the area of credit cards. This highlights the tendency of combining different payment instruments into a single environment.
