United Kingdom

Payment Organization 

• From April 2015, new Payment System Regulator (PSR). 
• Infrastructure processor VocaLink; LINK ATM scheme. 

Domestic Card Brand 

LINK (ATM brand). 

Market Structure 

• Competitive card business infrastructure composed of more than 30 major issuers, 14 active acquirers, one card processors, more than 150 PSPs, one ATM network (LINK), 8 independent ATM service organizations (ISOs), many payment institutions and e-money institutions licensed by the FCA. 
• The UK has long been Europe’s leading credit card market, but in the last decade debit cards have made remarkable progress. 
• In 2004, expenditure on cards exceeded expenditure on cash; UK was the first major economy in the world to break this barrier. 
• In contrast to continental Europe, credit cards are a main source of consumer finance. Because UK consumers in general are overstretched, credit card borrowing has been static, since 2004. 
• Rapid rollout of contactless cards and POS/MPOS terminals. In 2015, sharp rise in card fraud losses, up by 18% from 2014. UK banks invest in card-less payment services beyond cards. 
• UK regulators focussed on future governance of the payments industry, including non-bank payment service providers. 

Notable Market Trends 

HCE NFC payments, MPOS terminals, QR-code/BLE payments, digital wallets, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay; card-less payments: Pingit, ZAPP, Paym; immediate payments 

Updated Information About:

Major Issuers, Major Acquirers, Major Processors and Consumer Finance indicator. 

Statistical Key Figures for 2015 provided in this profile:

• UPDATED: tables with card business data 2011-2015; growth rates: Y-o-Y, CAGR
• Population, Cards per Capita, Card Value per Capita
• Debit Cards, Credit/Delayed Debit Cards, Total Cards
• Card payments by number and by value, ATV per card, payments per card/year
• ATMs, POS terminals, ATMs/POS terminals per 1 million capita
• ATM withdrawals by number/by value, ATV per withdrawal, TXs per ATM/month
• POS payments by number/by value, ATV per POS payment, TXs per POS/month
• Internet Use, e-payment mix, B2C e-Commerce by value and growth rate
• Issued Card brands by individual major issuer bank
• Accepted card brands by individual major acquirer
• Drill down into the debit card use and credit cards use details

Product information

Digital product provided in PDF format. You will receive a download link to a zip file containing your files after checkout. 

Version

1.3(020717) last updated 2nd July 2017

Changelog

Fixed errors on Page 41, Table 15