Chief executives of the UK’s largest banks have agreed to hold an initial meeting focused on creating a national alternative to the Visa and Mastercard payment systems. The move follows growing concerns that the United States could, at least in theory, disconnect American payment instruments, reports The Guardian.
The meeting, to be chaired by Barclays UK chief executive Vim Maru, is scheduled for February 19.
The idea of launching a homegrown national payment system—funded by a group of investors from London’s financial sector and backed by the government—has been under discussion for several years. Recently, however, those talks have taken on new urgency. Threats by Donald Trump directed at NATO allies in the context of Greenland have intensified concerns that excessive reliance on American companies could create vulnerabilities for the UK’s payment infrastructure and the wider economy, the publication notes.
“If Mastercard and Visa are switched off, it would throw us back to the 1950s. We clearly need a sovereign payments system,” said one executive familiar with the project. At the same time, as The Guardian emphasizes, British officials have publicly spoken about the need for a backup system while stopping short of directly stating that the source of these concerns lies in potential moves by the United States.
The new national payment system is expected to be operational by 2030.
Mastercard and Visa themselves are also involved in the initiative, joining the list of investors alongside Santander UK, NatWest, Nationwide and Lloyds Banking Group, the ATM network operator Link, and the Coventry building society. Representatives of the US payment companies said they remain committed to the UK market and welcomed the prospect of potential competition.