Portugal 2026
Market Overview Payment Organizations SIBS – interbank organisation, manages the Multibanco networks Unicre – interbank organisation, main acquirer, Unibanco issuer. Domestic Payment Brands Multibanco (MB) cards, co-badged Maestro, Electron, Mastercard or VISA. MB cards can have debit and/or delayed debit function and a credit and/or delayed debit function on a single card. MB Way wallet, […]
Romania 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations TransFonD (Societatea Nationala de Transfer de Fonduri si Decontari) is the interbank processor of the Romanian electronic payment system. Domestic Payment Brands No domestic card brands. Market Structure Cash remains the predominant payment instrument; credit transfers and cheques are used alongside debit cards, which were first issued in 1997. Debit cards […]
Serbia 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations National Payment Card Centre DinaCard Domestic Payment Brands DinaCard debit, credit, and prepaid cards. They can be co-badged Discover, Pulse, or UnionPay for international use Market Structure Exceptionally for an emerging market, there are more POS payments than ATM withdrawals in Serbia, reflecting the advanced nature of the card business in […]
Slovakia 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisation ZBK, the Slovak Bank Card Association. Domestic Payment Brands No domestic payment brands. Market Structure Like other CEE markets, continued rapid growth of card use in Slovakia. By end-2024, the number of cards had reached 6.90 million and there are now 205.3 payments on cards per capita. Cards issued are credit […]
Slovenia 2026
Market Overview Payment Organizations Bankart is the processor of BA cards and Karanta cards. Activa is processor of the Activa card scheme. Domestic Card Brands Activa cards are co-badged Maestro, Mastercard, VISA or Electron; BA Maestro cards; Karanta cards co-badged Mastercard; there are also domestic-only cards with one of the three domestic brands. Market Structure […]
Spain 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations SistemaPay Domestic Card Brands SistemaPay cards are co-badged Mastercard, VISA, Debit Mastercard, or VISA Debit for international use. Bizum, the domestic A2A payment service. Market Structure Cards in issue had grown strongly to 79.2 million by end-2008, then falling to 68.0 million at end-2014. By 2024, cards in issue had grown […]
Switzerland 2026
Market Overview Payment Organisations SIX Group, the Swiss interbank organisation. Aduno Group – interbank organisation of the Swiss regional banks Domestic Payment Brands PostFinance debit cards, CardDirect, some co-badged PLUS. TWINT, the digital A2A payment app of the Swiss banks. Market Structure Swiss banks mainly issue Maestro debit cards, PostFinance, the banking arm of Swiss […]
European Payments Report Overview Part 6 – Overview of European Banking 2025
6. Overview of European Banking Banking sectors in western Europe and the formerly state-owned banks in central and eastern Europe have completely different historic roots. In addition, their transformation into the European Economic Area (EEA) has followed separate strategies. Thus, this part of the European overview section continues to highlight European banks in two different […]
European Payments Report Overview Part 5 – Card Acquiring and Acceptance 2025
5. Card Acquiring and Acceptance The card acquiring business is part of the card payment ecosystem, which is highlighted in a previous part of the European Overview Section. It is obvious that card acquirers shall be compliant with the respective rules and regulations of domestic card schemes and international card schemes, including security standards such […]
European Payments Report Overview Part 4 – Card Payments Overview – Market Size and Dynamics 2025
4. Card Payments Overview– Market Size and Dynamics The legal frameworks for card payment services and the payment infrastructure in Europe are highlighted in the introducing part ‘About Payments in Europe’ (see above). The card issuing business is part of the card payment ecosystem, which is highlighted in another part of the Yearbook: ‘Card Payment […]