European Payments Report (Overview) 2025

European Regional Overview  

The European Regional Overview provides a pan-European perspective on digital and card payments across all 33 countries of the European Yearbook. By amalgamating data from all the country reports, a dynamic picture of the continent’s payment landscape is laid out in comparative tables, giving five years’ worth of data (2019 – 2023) plus annual growth rate (GR 22/23), and compound annual growth rate (5-year CAGR) figures.  

Alongside card payments, it highlights three competing European payment ecosystems:  

• Card payment ecosystem – card based payment business and its infrastructure – including mobile payments  

• Open Banking payment ecosystem – card-less payments directly from bank accounts  

• Cash ecosystem – cash handling and digital currency innovations  

 

The objective is to provide a European overview of card payments and card-less payments, having in mind the regulators’ view on digital payment services for the digital economy, the payment demands of consumers and merchants, and the emerging digital payment world. In addition, the cash ecosystem is briefly highlighted.  

Having such a pan-European view on payment services and payment service providers in mind, the European overview sections comprise a basic introduction about the Yearbook, and six parts reflecting digital payment transformation trends. It analyses both the card payment business and the emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem.  

About Payments in Europe  

This part provides an introducing overview about payments in Europe and analyses different aspects of card payments, emerging card-less payments directly from bank accounts, and digital payment transformations:  

• Digital payments for the digital economy – Growth and KPIs  

• Regulators’ view, consumer demands, merchant demands  

• Legal framework for payment services in Europe  

• From PSD2 to PSD3 – regulatory technical standards and SEPA payment instruments  

• Competing payment ecosystems in Europe  

• Cash payment ecosystem  

• Card payment ecosystem  

• Open Banking payment ecosystem  

• Cryptocurrencies, CBDCs and Stablecoins  

• Classification of cashless payment services in Europe  

• Types of payment service providers in Europe  

• Online payments in Europe  

• Mobile payments in Europe  

• About payment fraud in Europe  

• Outlook – Digital Payment Transformation  

• Outlook – Digital Payment Infrastructure  

 

Further, this part highlights important payment service trends and digital technologies relevant for European payment businesses.     

Card Payment Ecosystem  

The objective of this section is to provide an overview of card payments and payment service providers in the European card payment ecosystem, which competes with card-less payments directly from bank accounts.  

This part drills down into card payment infrastructures and card payment services in Europe:  

• About the card payment ecosystem in Europe  

• Card payment services in Europe  

• Card payment service providers in Europe  

• Card issuers, card acquirers, card processors, other related entities  

• International card schemes and Europe  

• Domestic card scheme transformation  

• Interchange fee arrangements in Europe  

• Digitalisation of card payments  

• About card fraud in Europe  

• Card payment service trends  

• Outlook – card payment Infrastructure   

In this section of the European overview, the transformation and current situation of domestic processors, interbank organisations and domestic card schemes in Europe are highlighted in the new context as at end-2022. Additionally, an update is given on the overview of international card schemes.  

Further, this part highlights important card market trends and digital technologies relevant for card payments. It also includes an outline of the evolution of the former interbank payment organisations and a summary of M&A activity among European card processors.  

Open Banking Payment Ecosystem  

The objective of this section is to provide a European overview of card-less payments and the emerging Open Banking payment ecosystem, which is complementary to the card business.  

• About Open Banking in Europe  

• The Open Banking payment ecosystem in Europe  

• Card-less payment services in Europe  

• Card-less payment service providers in Europe  

• Payment initiation service workflow  

• Account information service workflow  

• About digital payment fraud in Europe  

• Open Banking payment service trends  

• About Open APIs  

• Outlook – Digital payment transformation  

• Outlook – Open Banking payment infrastructure  

 

Further, this part highlights important Open Banking market trends and digital technologies relevant for Open Banking payment business.  

Cryptocurrencies Ecosystem  

The objective of this section is to provide a European overview of the cryptocurrency market across all the major sectors (Cryptocurrencies, Stable coins and CBDC). The regulatory framework across Europe and in country and domestic operations on a country by country level.  

Card Payments – Market Size and Dynamics  

Covering debit and credit cards across the European market including comparative tables of issued cards, number of payments per country, expenditure on cards by country and a variety of per capita figures.  

Additionally, this part provides high-level background regarding:  

• About cards and digital card form factors  

• Regional summary: cards and payments in the E33 region showing the card market size  

• Detailed analysis of card use: debit cards, credit/delayed debit cards, KPIs per Capita, ATVs  

• Prepaid cards and electronic purse phase-out  

• Leading card issuers in Europe  

• Background: cards and EMV migration  

• Card fraud loss figures at a European level  

• Historic background of contactless cards  

  

Card Acquiring and Acceptance  

This section reviews card acquiring, the acquirer infrastructure in Europe, and selected comparative POS and ATM statistics.  

The new legal frameworks for acquirer services, EC directives and new EC regulations with impact on European card business are highlighted.  

Additionally, this section provides high-level background regarding:  

• Acquirer infrastructure in Europe  

• Challenges for card acquirers  

• Merchant demands for card acceptance services  

• Merchant service charges – abstract  

• EFTPOS terminal analysis, including MPOS/SoftPOS devices and cash-advances at retail outlets  

• ATM analysis, including ATM trends and ATM withdrawal fee arrangements  

• List of ATM networks.  

• Largest acquirers in Europe  

  

Overview of European Banking  

A discussion of retail banking trends in Western and Eastern Europe, including cross-border M&A activity, and a snapshot of the leading European banks. In addition, this section highlights notable digital banking trends and the role of European banks in digital cards and payments, both from a payments industry point of view:  

• European banks and digital banking trends  

• Mobile banking apps  

• Omnichannel self-service banking  

• Banks and digital wallets  

• Banks and digitalisation of payments  

• Banks embracing immediate/instant payments  

• European banks and Open Banking  

• European banks and digital card business  

• Digital cards and NFC technologies  

• Banks in Western Europe  

• Banks in Central and Eastern Europe