Payment systems must possess resilience, reliability, security, and align with European values. This was articulated in a recent signed article by Kelly Devine, President of Mastercard Europe, which addressed the ongoing debate in Europe regarding local payment sovereignty while also outlining the essential characteristics of payment services. Influenced by geopolitical factors, Europe has been seeking to reduce its reliance on Visa and Mastercard by establishing its own card network. There is a sense that Europe may now regret not blocking the acquisition of Europay International by Mastercard back in 2002. Mastercard's public statement also reveals the period of anxiety currently experienced by major card networks.
Challenges are emerging on multiple fronts. Global card networks are confronting impacts from new technologies, innovative business models, and geopolitical shifts, some of which threaten their core operations.
From a geopolitical perspective, the conflict in Ukraine serves as a direct example, leading to the withdrawal of international card networks like Visa and Mastercard from the Russian market. In Europe, amid a trend of "de-Americanization," these networks frequently face antitrust investigations. By mid-2025, the European Union had escalated its antitrust probes into Visa and Mastercard, focusing on scrutinizing their fee structures and demanding greater transparency in pricing. Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the creation of a European sovereign payment system, emphasizing that such infrastructure is a vital component of European sovereignty. The European Central Bank has also released a comprehensive payments strategy for the Eurosystem, which includes among its four core development goals the continuous enhancement of the robustness and autonomy of European payment systems to strengthen payment security. Certainly, geopolitical influences represent a challenge that card networks find difficult to address through commercial means alone.
The advent of new technologies and approaches also presents significant challenges. The rise of mobile payments is a primary example, with China being a prominent case study. Electronic wallet operators are gradually marginalizing card networks through third-party models. Although many channel services still involve collaboration with card networks, the inability to connect directly with end-users and merchants implies a continuous erosion of the card networks' brand value. Furthermore, trends like the move away from physical cards and the growth of mobile Pays are steadily weakening the consumer-facing service capabilities of card networks.
Another challenge is the emergence of national instant payment systems. Systems like Europe's Wero, India's UPI, and Brazil's Pix are gaining traction. Data from February 2026 showed that the daily transaction volume of Brazil's Pix had surpassed the combined transaction volume of Visa and Mastercard within Brazil. Most concerning for card networks is that major countries and regions worldwide are developing their own instant payment systems. Even in the United States, the FedNow instant payment system introduced by the Federal Reserve poses some competition to the existing businesses of card networks. While local payments are being substituted, cross-border payment revenues are also being gradually eroded.
Additionally, the global wave of QR code payment interoperability is a factor. In Southeast Asia, bilateral QR code payment connectivity has been established between six of the eleven ASEAN member states. QR code payments are inherently consumer-oriented, and cross-border payments have traditionally been a strength of card networks. The interoperability of QR code payments between countries replaces the role of card networks on multiple levels. Solutions like Alipay+, which enable mutual recognition between wallets on the acquirer side, have also emerged, impacting the network strategies of card networks to some extent.
Finally, the rise of stablecoins poses a threat. Stablecoins offer features such as payment-finality efficiency, low cost, and low barriers to entry for accounts, challenging not only the traditional financial payment system but also the established card networks.
In response to these multifaceted challenges, card networks are pursuing various strategic shifts. One focus is innovation in the business-to-business market. For instance, Visa and Mastercard have increasingly focused on the B2B payments sector, offering diverse products like corporate virtual cards and integrated solutions to meet market demands. Their fund movement platforms, Visa Direct and Mastercard Move, have gained positive recognition in global markets. During earnings calls, both companies have indicated that cross-border payments, small and medium-sized business transactions, virtual cards, and even the development of non-card networks are part of their long-term strategies.
They are also adapting to the era of digital wallets. In response to the rise of e-wallets, card networks are leveraging their acquirer network strengths and NFC technology to achieve a degree of integration between account-based and card-based payments. Specifically, partnerships like WeChat Pay with Visa and Alipay with Mastercard have enabled commercial implementation of "tap-to-pay" solutions overseas. Using Android phones, wallet users can make NFC payments at point-of-sale terminals enabled by card networks. It is worth noting that Apple is gradually opening up its NFC access, which could provide more collaboration opportunities for wallet providers and card networks. Furthermore, China UnionPay has promoted a "New Four-Party Model," introducing "pan-account providers" (such as wallet institutions) and "pan-acquiring parties" (like payment aggregators) and establishing unified standards to meet the clearing and settlement needs of the wallet era.
Card networks are also increasing their focus on cryptocurrency development. Mastercard's recent acquisition of BVNK for $1.8 billion attracted significant attention in the payments industry, widely viewed as a defensive move to incorporate stablecoin payment capabilities and counter competition from new entrants and business models. Additionally, recent reports that Mastercard is considering the sale of Nets' real-time payment business, which it previously acquired for $3.2 billion, are seen as a strong signal of its shift towards new payment technologies. Visa's exploration in the stablecoin domain is more aggressive. For the single product category of crypto-linked cards, recent data indicates Visa accounts for over 90% of global transaction volume. Visa has also launched a stablecoin settlement system on four major blockchains—Ethereum, Solana, Stellar, and Avalanche—further expanding its influence in the stablecoin space. For newcomers in the stablecoin payment industry, building a new global network from scratch is unattractive; the established global networks of incumbent card networks remain largely irreplaceable.
Exploring new innovations like artificial intelligence is another avenue. AI is undoubtedly a hotspot across global industries. For card networks, exploring AI innovation is likely essential for enhancing their network service quality. In December 2024, Visa and Mastercard completed acquisitions of Featurespace and Recorded Future, respectively. Both acquired companies specialize in using AI to improve fraud detection efficiency. As AI agents become more prevalent, card networks are also attempting to establish standards and collaborate with industry representatives to develop plans for ensuring the security and scalable operation of AI-agent transactions.
What defines a card network? Some payment industry practitioners occasionally dismiss card networks as "lapdogs of financial regulation." However, this criticism inadvertently acknowledges the fundamental compliance role of card networks, aligning with the resilience, reliability, and security described by Mastercard's Kelly Devine. Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of Visa, once characterized Visa in his memoirs as "a semi-official, semi-profit, semi-nonprofit, semi-consultative, semi-authoritative, semi-educational, semi-social, semi-commercial, and semi-political federation. It was none of those things exclusively, yet all of them collectively—a chaotic organization." Card networks are essentially facilitators and transmitters of trust. Financial regulators grant card networks the license to operate compliantly. Card networks, in turn, disseminate this regulatory trust through mechanisms like compliance certifications, membership rules, and the four-party model, bringing order to the complex payments ecosystem. A transaction processed through a card network carries an implicit seal of compliance and serves as a liability backstop, significantly resolving inter-institutional trust issues and providing a platform for dispute resolution. Over more than half a century of development, card networks have skillfully blended the trust mandated by regulators with the freedom demanded by the market, establishing payments as a foundational element for all industries.
Card networks are also standard-setters and coordinators. Through entities like EMVCo and the PCI Security Standards Council, they establish global standards and specifications, enabling payment products and services to achieve universal acceptance, akin to Arabic numerals. When the global payments industry faces new innovations or challenges, card networks can convene relevant stakeholders to coordinate industry interests and guide innovation towards orderly development.
There are currently six major global card networks: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club, and China UnionPay. In each major regional market, card networks possess a degree of uniqueness; for instance, China's vast market of over a billion people has fostered only China UnionPay. Among these, Visa and Mastercard stand out as the two leaders in terms of transaction volume, global card issuance, and worldwide coverage. Card networks are not easily replaced or newly established. Their irreplaceability extends beyond their physical networks; their mission evolves to meet the demands of different eras.
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