Visa and Mastercard had varying market shares across 14 different European countries in 2021, sometimes significantly lower than domestic payment cards. Visa was the largest card issuer in Ireland and the United Kingdom, with market shares of over 80 percent in both countries. Mastercard, on the other hand, held market shares of 88 percent and 70 percent in the Netherlands and Sweden, respectively. Unlike the United States, Visa and Mastercard are often associated with debit cards in Europe. Indeed, debit card use is more prevalent than the use of credit cards in Europe, as revealed by estimates on credit cards and debit cards per capita in 37 European countries.
Visa is Europe’s biggest payment brand...
Across all considered European payment figures, Visa outperforms MasterCard. For instance, credit cards and prepaid cards issued across the European continent were used for nearly 97 billion transactions in 2019. Nearly 60 percent of all these transactions were done with Visa general purpose cards, while MasterCard made up for 39 percent of the market. In 2018, Visa also had a higher purchase volume in Europe than MasterCard, Amex and Diners combined. Visa made up for 1.8 trillion of the three trillion U.S. dollars that credit cards, debit cards, and prepaid cards generated that year in Europe.
... but in name only, as Europe’s payment landscape is complicated.
When looking at European countries individually, however, the market shares of Visa and MasterCard varied dramatically. In Germany, for example, the domestic card brand Girocard had a market share of 75 percent, whereas Visa and MasterCard each made up around 13 and 11 percent of the market. Italy, on the other hand, was more divided. Bancomat cards made up 45 percent of transactions, whereas MasterCard and Visa each held a market share of approximately 20 and 34 percent. Market shares for either Visa or MasterCard are not readily available in France as the term “bank card” or carte bancaire (derived from the domestic payment brand CB) is not associated with a particular brand in French language, as can be seen in a domestic survey on the most preferred payment methods in France.
