Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Methodology 1
Table of Contents 2
Table of figures 3
Table of tables 4
Competitor Market Shares and Developments in the UK Plastic Card Market 5
Introduction 5
Card scheme market shares 5
Visa remains the largest debit brand in the UK 5
Solo is losing market share while Visa Electron has maintained market share 6
Visa is also the leading debit scheme in terms of cards in issue 6
Visa is the leading credit card scheme, but continues to lose ground to MasterCard 7
American Express is now the largest scheme in the charge card market 7
Card issuer market shares 9
RBS remains the largest player in the UK credit card market by cards in issue 9
Barclaycard remains the biggest issuing brand in the market 10
The dominance of the 'big five' banks is being challenged 11
Monolines and other issuers continue to grow at the expense of the large retail banks 11
Co-branding continues to be a successful strategy in the UK 11
Specialist lenders have also made an impact on the market 11
MBNA has built upon its position in 2005 to become the clear leader in terms of balances outstanding 12
GE Money continues to dominate the private label market 13
Card issuer developments 14
The UK market continues to be relatively quiet in terms of consolidation 14
The costs of regulatory compliance and a downturn in market conditions have seen the pace of consolidation slow from 2002 onwards 15
Strategic changes have also been important-many issuers have sought to grow organically through co-brand partnerships with non-financial entities 16
Entry into other market segments is also likely to be a profitable diversion for issuers 17
In the most significant recent acquisition in the UK, Citigroup has acquired Egg 18
Barclays sells off its subprime card portfolio 19
While mergers and acquisitions have been thin on the ground, there have been many notable product launches in the UK 19
Prepaid cards have been introduced by several issuers 19
Contactless payments have arrived in the UK 20
Issuers are responding to the demand for 'green' products 21
Summary 22
Appendix 23
Definitions 23
AAGR 23
Affinity card 23
APACS 23
ATM-only card 23
Average transaction value 23
Balances outstanding 23
Bank of England base rate 23
CAGR 23
Ceteris paribus 23
CCJs 24
Charge card 24
Co-branded card 24
Counterfeit fraud 24
Credit card 24
CVV 24
Debit card 24
EMV 25
FLA 25
Fraudulent use of card details (card-not-present fraud), also known as fraud on phone, mail order or Internet transactions 25
Frequency of use 25
Identity theft 25
Interchange 25
Lost or stolen card fraud 26
Mail non-receipt fraud 26
Non-standard 26
OFT 26
Private label card 26
POS terminal 26
Turnover per card per year 26
Methodology 27
Primary research 27
Secondary research 27
Further Reading 27
Cards and Payments Team contact details 28
Datamonitor Consulting 29
Disclaimer 29
List of Tables
Table 1: Consolidation activity in the UK credit card market, 2001-05 15
Table 2: Current relevant Datamonitor publications, 2007 27
Table 3: Future relevant Datamonitor publications, 2007 28
List of Figures
Figure 1: Visa debit brands have grown within the UK market, 2002-06 6
Figure 2: MasterCard is gaining ground on Visa in the credit card market, 2002-2006 7
Figure 3: The charge card market has remained fairly evenly segmented from 2002-2006 8
Figure 4: RBS remains the leading credit card issuer at the group level in terms of cards in issue, 2006 9
Figure 5: Barclaycard is the leading credit card brand in the UK by cards in issue, 2006 10
Figure 6: MBNA is the leading issuer in terms of outstanding balances, 2006 13
Figure 7: GE Money continues to account for the majority of private label cards in the UK, 2006 14