Beyond the card giants: Why Europe needs a new vision for sovereign payments

As conversations intensify across Europe and the UK about payment sovereignty, one theme continues to surface: our deep reliance on Visa and Mastercard. These networks have been central to the digital economy for decades, providing fraud protection, dispute resolution, merchant acceptance, and a level of resilience few systems can match. Their scale and stability remain essential. But as digital payments evolve and instant transfers become more normal, it’s time to broaden the payments landscape rather tha ...