Few of us will go through life never having seen a Mastercard or Visa logo. For many just opening our wallets and pulling out a bank card puts us face to face with the branding of one of these payment giants.

And it's not just logos on bank cards that keep these two formidable brands in the public eye. Both corporations invest hundreds of millions of dollars annually into sponsoring global sports, fashion and entertainment with the aim of driving consumer brand loyalty.

But with the continued emergence of alternative payment solutions are we witnessing the dawn of a new era?

 

Global dominance

Currently Mastercard and Visa dominate the global payments market accounting for 90% of all payment processing outside of China. 

European Central Bank (ECB) data shows that 61% of card payments in the eurozone and nearly all cross-border transactions use Visa and Mastercard payment networks, while in the UK around 95% of UK card transactions are made using payment systems owned by this duopoly, according to a 2025 report by the Payments Systems Regulator. That dependency becomes even greater as cash payments decline across Britain.

In recent years Mastercard and Visa have sought to solidify their dominance through acquisition.

CurrencyCloud, a global platform that enables banks and fintechs to provide innovative foreign exchange solutions for cross-border payments, became part of Visa at the end of 2021 under a $700 million deal. 

Meanwhile a few weeks ago Mastercard used their own deep pockets to finalise the $1.8 billion purchase of London-based stablecoin payments infrastructure provider BVNK, a move that bridges the gap between blockchain-based digital assets and traditional fiat rails.

BVNK will power stablecoin capabilities across Mastercard’s payment endpoints; enabling 24/7 stablecoin settlement for processors and acquirers; and adding stablecoin checkout to Mastercard’s payment gateway.

Worldpay

Breaking the stranglehold

But being so visible means greater scrutiny and greater appreciation of the risks posed by dependency

Challenging the status quo

Mastercard, Visa and PayPal are currently under investigation by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for suspected anti-competitive conduct linked to the funding and usage of PayPal's digital wallet. 

This comes at a time when the UK and Europe are actively exploring ways to reduce their reliance on Mastercard and Visa. 

 

“We are highly dependent on international [payment] solutions,” said Martina Weimert, chief executive of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium of 16 European banks and financial services companies.

“Yes, we have nice national assets like domestic [payment] card schemes . . . but we don’t have anything cross-border.”

“If we say independence is so crucial and we all know it’s a timing issue . . . we need action urgently,’’ she said.

The EPI, whose members include BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank, launched a European alternative to Apple Pay called Wero in 2024. The digital payments scheme now claims to have 48.5 million users in Belgium, France and Germany, with plans to expand to online and in-store payments by 2027.

The central bank is promoting the digital euro, a public initiative to make payments digitally across the euro zone, to strengthen the bloc’s monetary sovereignty.

 

 

 

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