Belgium 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations Bancontact Payconiq Company. Domestic Payment Brands Bancontact debit cards, mostly co-badged Maestro. Bancontact Payconiq, the Belgian mobile payment app. Market Structure In March 2018, the domestic card scheme Bancontact merged with the mobile payment app operator, Payconiq. From 2011, most Belgian banks restrict the use of the Maestro function on Bancontact […]
Austria 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations Payment Services Austria (PSA) STUZZA develops methods and standards for payment services. In 2021, PSA, STUZZA and Austrian OeNB‘s Clearinghouse merged to build the new shared-services-platform and interbank organisation for cashless bank payment services. Domestic Payment Brands No domestic card brands. eps, the domestic A2A payment service for online shopping. Market […]
Bulgaria 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisation BORICA is the Bulgarian interbank organisation and card authorisation centre. Domestic Card Brands BORICA was the domestic debit card; many cards are co-badged Maestro. BORICA cards have been replaced by Bcard cards. Bcard is the new domestic card brand launched in 2017. Bcard cards are typically debit cards, credit cards or […]
Croatia 2026
Market Overview Payment Organization EGCP, formerly the Croatian interbank processor MBU, is the shared group card processor of Erste Group (A). Domestic Payment Brands MBCARD debit cards. Market Structure Croatia was a showcase market for American Express through its agreement with PBZ, which had issued over 500,000 American Express cards until 2019. Erste Bank acquired […]
Cyprus 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisation JCC Payment Systems; JCC is owned by five major banks. Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure JCC is the central body in the Cypriot card business market, managing the domestic POS/ATM networks and most acquirer transactions. The credit card sector has been relatively mature for some years, but […]
Czechia 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisation SBK Czech Bank Card Association (SBK/BCA). Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure Continued growth of card use. By end-2024, there were 15.86 million cards with 273.5 card payments per capita. Cards issued are credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards. 92.12% of cards are debit cards that are […]
Finland 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations Automatia (ATM network); Finnish Bankers Association. Finance Finland (FFI). Domestic Payment Brand No domestic card brand. Market Structure Sophisticated market with a high level of card use. However, numbers of ATMs and cash withdrawals continued to decline. Cards with combined debit/credit functions for domestic and international use respectively. As at end-2024, […]
Greece 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations DIAS, Hellenic Bankers Association Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure Greece has a cash-based economy. There were 216.1 card payments per capita in 2024. The Greek crisis affected card usage from 2009. Card numbers declined to 13.2 million in 2014 but recovered from 2015. For the first time […]
Hungary 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisation Nexi (formerly SIA Central Europe, interbank organisation GIRO Bankcard Company (GBC)). Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure Debit cards account for 88.66% of the payment card base. Rapid growth of card use. 93.08% of all cards are contactless. In September 2016, the number of contactless card payments exceeded […]
Ireland 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI). Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure Historically the credit card market, debit card use has grown through the domestic Laser debit card scheme. In 2024, more than 91.22% of card payments by volume were with debit cards. Irish banks replaced domestic Laser […]