Key facts
- UK banks are planning to create a new national payments system to reduce reliance on Visa and Mastercard.
- The initiative, codenamed DeliveryCo, is driven by fears of potential disruptions to US-owned payment systems.
- Barclays UK chief executive Vim Maru is chair-designate of DeliveryCo.
- Visa and Mastercard are participating in the initiative and taking stakes.
- The Payment Systems Regulator reported that about 95% of UK card transactions use Visa or Mastercard systems.
- The Bank of England is developing infrastructure blueprints for the new system.
UK banks are initiating a significant fundraising effort to establish a new national payments system, aiming to reduce the country's heavy reliance on US-owned giants Visa and Mastercard. The project, known as DeliveryCo, is driven by concerns that geopolitical tensions, particularly potential actions by Donald Trump, could disrupt essential payment services.
The initiative brings together major UK banks, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Santander UK, and Nationwide, along with the Link ATM network. Visa and Mastercard themselves are participating and taking stakes in the new venture, signaling the seriousness with which incumbents view the project. The Bank of England is also involved, developing infrastructure blueprints for the system, which is anticipated to be operational by 2030.
According to a 2025 report by the UK's Payment Systems Regulator, approximately 95% of UK card transactions are processed through Visa and Mastercard systems. This dominance has heightened concerns about the potential economic impact if these services were to be interrupted, drawing parallels to the situation in Russia following sanctions. The plan for a sovereign payments system has been discussed for years, but recent geopolitical developments have accelerated its urgency.