UK plan for alternative to Visa and Mastercard

UK bank bosses will hold their first meeting to establish an alternative to Visa and Mastercard amid growing fears over Donald Trump's ability to turn off US-owned payment systems.

- Kalyeena Makortoff

The meeting, chaired by Barclays UK's chief executive, Vim Maru, will take place this Thursday and bring together a group of City funders who will front the costs of a new payments company that will keep the UK economy running if problems occur.

The City-funded, but government-backed, initiative has been under discussion for years.

However, Trump’s recent threats against US and Nato allies over Greenland have increased concerns that an over-reliance on American companies could put UK payments - and the wider economy - at risk.About 95% of UK card transactions are made using payment systems owned by Mastercard and Visa, according to a 2025 report by the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator. That dominance has become far more relevant as cash use across the country continues to decline.

“If Mastercard and Visa were turned off it would send us back to 1950s” before cards dominated the UK economy, and businesses wholly relied on cash, one executive familiar with the project told the Guardian. “Of course we need a sovereign payments system.”