Major UK Banks Launch Fundraising Drive to Challenge Visa and Mastercard Dominance
Leading UK banks are raising £50m to build a domestic payments network, aiming to bypass intermediaries and rival global giants like Visa and Mastercard.
POLICY WIRE — London, United Kingdom — A coalition of Britain’s largest financial institutions is initiating a fundraising campaign this week to secure tens of millions of pounds for a new payments infrastructure project. This venture aims to establish a domestic alternative to global payment giants Mastercard and Visa.
The UK Payments Delivery Company is spearheading the effort, seeking to raise approximately £50m. The initiative is backed by major lenders including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, and NatWest, all of which are looking to accelerate the adoption of bank-to-bank transactions that circumvent traditional payment intermediaries.
This domestic network development has received support from both the government and the Bank of England. The move comes amid growing industry concerns regarding the heavy reliance on international providers like Visa and Mastercard.
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The project builds upon the UK Payments Initiative (UKPI), which was officially announced on 2 June 2026. The UKPI was designed to foster innovation in open banking and commercial variable recurring payments, ensuring that automated payments to businesses and government entities remain scalable and consistent for widespread consumer use.
In a separate development within the global payments sector, the Irish billionaire Collison brothers have initiated a $53bn (£40bn) takeover bid for PayPal. This move was executed by Stripe, the payments firm established by John and Patrick Collison.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
