28 February 2025

• Card payments are the main electronic payment method in the EU
• International card schemes accounted for approximately 61% of euro area card transactions in 2022
• The domestic market share of national card schemes is declining

The European Central Bank (ECB) today published the latest report on card schemes and processors. Card payments have emerged as the dominant electronic payment method in the European Union (EU), accounting for 70 billion payments – 54% of all non-cash transactions – in 2023.

The report’s findings raise questions about the EU’s strategic autonomy in payments, particularly given the growing dominance of international card schemes.

Card schemes

The report shows that there are currently only nine national card schemes active in the EU, each operating in only one Member State (Figure 1). These schemes are facing a broader trend of declining domestic market shares.