On Wednesday December 13th, TranzactCard announced Maine headquartered Bangor Bank as its “new banking partner”.

On Friday December 15th, Bangor Bank confirmed they had no partnership with TranzactCard.

On Saturday December 16th, TranzactCard held an unscheduled “all hands-on-deck TranzactCard field update.”

During the call, new COO Ken Doherty confirmed Bangor Bank was not TranzactCard’s “banking partner”.

Doherty instead claimed Bangor Bank is TranzactCard’s “sponsor bank”.

What’s the difference between a “partner bank” and a “sponsor bank”?

No idea.

Instead of calling Bangor Bank to get to the bottom of misinformation coming out of TranzactCard corporate, Doherty pleaded with affiliates to “not call our Sponsor Bank to provide you with details”.

Seek clarification through upper leadership or your corporate support email. Support staff is standing by to assist.

Seeing as TranzactCard themselves revealed Bangor Bank as a “partner bank”, I’m not sure how solid that advice is.

TranzactCard co-owner Peter Rancie (right), went on to clarify that

Any passed terminology will be corrected on the corporate end. The correct terminology is Program Sponsor.

I guess we’ll find out this coming week whether Bangor Bank is in fact TranzactCard’s “sponsor bank”, whatever that means.

Something else unexpected on the call was the departure of newly appointed executive Bill Andreoli and his “executive team”.

A heartfelt tribute and best wishes to our New Hampshire crew, we thank you and wish you the best on your newest endeavours.

@Bill Andreoli @Mike Randolph @Petti Gardner and team

Having just left Kannaway after a year as President, Andreoli and his team are believed to have been behind an announced partnership between Kannaway and TranzactCard.

That partnership was then walked back under murky circumstances in October.

While at least publicly acknowledging he’d left, Tranzact Corporate didn’t provide any reasoning for Andreoli’s abrupt and unexpected departure.

While executives do come and go, Andreoli leaving after being appointed in August (whilst still working as a Kannaway executive), combined with the TranzactCard’s ongoing banking partner debacle is… strange.

The other announcement on the call pertains to Z-Club.

In next couple weeks Zclub will relaunch with a more robust version.

Our own product line, everyday items, bundling and brand items that provide NEEDED and NECESSARY value.

Z-Club isn’t relaunching till after Christmas, the busiest shopping season of the year. Bit of a missed opportunity there.