Decoupled Debit Card – still a mystery or a desirable product?

Aite Group, a financial advice service company, has introduced a new report investigating a demand for a decoupled debit card. “Decoupled debit” is a new payment mechanism where a traditional deposit account is alienated from the issuer of the debit card. An intermediate service provider, other than the customer’s bank, issues a client a new debit card and settles the transactions done on the card.
The report titled “Who wants a Decoupled Debit Card?” says that it "reveals that there is a sizeable potential market for decoupled debit cards in the United States, with about a third of cardholders expressing interest." According to an online survey of 500 U.S. consumers decoupled debit card holders are “rewards addicts” who will try hard to earn extra rewards.
Decoupled debit cards are co-brand cards which, for example, represent one financial institution and one merchant. Such type of cards restricts the extent of rewards versus non-co-brand cards. “…our study suggests that the co-brand approach might not be the best path to marketing decoupled debit cards" says Gwenn Bézard, research director with Aite Group and co-author of the report. One seem to be successful example is the Capital One and PayPal's MasterCard branded decoupled debit products which offer a more consumer-centered approach to the concept with broader merchant acceptance.