Many countries focus on establishing and protecting their own payments networks as national champions. This blog post discusses the national payments networks cultivated in different countries and the overall payments competition existing in the world.
The Payment-Networks Market in the US
The payment-networks market in the US is wide open for competition and is the most competitive one in the world. In the recent years, alternative payment processors like emerchantbroker.com have become highly popular. If you’re interested in high risk payment processing, consider turning to EMB, the #1 high risk processor in the US. EMB is an award-winning merchant account provider that boasts an A+ rating with the BBB.
In the mid-1980s, there were 135 ATM and 35 debit regional bank-owned networks. After several decades passed, they united into 6 national debit networks, which weren’t owned by banks. The survival of 6 regionals was conditioned by the fact that their bank owners or the armed forces were still using them.
Today’s open competition in the field has resulted in Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, PayPal, Star, the New York Currency Exchange (NYCE), and Accel. Foreign networks such as Alipay, CUP, and Japans’ JCB are among competitors.
In the Americas, the adoption of Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) technology has increased. Digital wallet technology is becoming more acceptable for customers. The development of technology in terms of contactless payment POS terminals continues to attract more customers and lead to the growth of the market. Mobile wallets are becoming more and more popular. As a result, many payment networks are encouraged to make separate offerings, thus accounting for the market growth.
Locally-Based Payments Networks
China UnionPay is the biggest national payments champion. It has 5.4 billion badged cards. CUP was established in 2002 by a decree from the People’s Bank of China. The network is owned by 85 banks, the largest of which are owned by the state. It’s important to note that China’s e-commerce payments giants Alipay, which has 450 million users, and Tenpay are becoming CUP’s competitors at the physical POS (point of sale). However, Chinese consumers, merchants and banks would like to see foreign networks compete in China as well.
In December 2016, Russia launched its national network called “Mir. The latter is run by the central banks of Russia.
In India, in 2012, Rupay was launched by the National Payment Corporation of India.
In 2011, Elo was launched by Banco do Brasil SA and Caixa Econômica Federal, institutions controlled by the state, and Banco Bradesco, which is controlled privately. Elo jumped to 7% market share.
It should also be mentioned that not all national networks were a success. Eropean Union regulators took efforts to encourage continental champions Monnet and the Euro Alliance of Payment Schemes, but they both failed.
The global payment gateways market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 17% from 2017 to 2021, according to the latest market research provided by Technavio. The latter is a leading global technology research and advisory company.
More network competition would be beneficial for the global market. More and less successful networks and the optimal number of networks should be determined by a dynamic, free market.