UK banks explore national payments system as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard

Senior executives from Britain’s largest banks are set to discuss creating a national payments system as an alternative to U.S.-based Visa and Mastercard, the Guardian reported.

The first meeting will be chaired by C.S. Venkatakrishnan, chief executive of Barclays, and will include potential sponsors willing to finance the development of the platform.

The idea, previously discussed with government backing, has gained renewed attention amid recent comments by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding NATO allies. Around 95% of UK card transactions are processed by Visa and Mastercard, according to a 2025 report by the country’s payments regulator.

The proposed platform could handle up to 50 billion transactions annually, the Telegraph reported.