ECPA urges EU action to protect sovereignty over card payments infrastructure - Trade Treasury Payments

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ECPA urges EU action to protect sovereignty over card payments infrastructure

3 June 2025 – The European Card Payment Association (ECPA) has called for coordinated regulatory and policy intervention to support domestic card schemes and reduce European reliance on international payment networks.

The call comes alongside the release of a white paper, Safeguarding Europe’s Financial Future, which sets out new data on European Card Schemes (ECSs) and outlines measures to secure payment sovereignty across the continent.

According to the paper, there are more than 263 million ECS payment cards in circulation. These processed 31.5 billion transactions in 2024, with notable market shares reported in countries including France, Germany and Belgium. The ECPA said ECSs offer lower fees, greater alignment with European data protection and regulatory requirements, and better local responsiveness compared to international card schemes.

Juan Carlos Martín, chairman of ECPA, said European card schemes remain “a critical part of the payments infrastructure” and warned that sovereignty over this infrastructure is “inseparable from true economic sovereignty”.

The paper points to concerns over rising fees charged by international schemes. It cites evidence from the UK’s Payment Systems Regulator which found that Visa and Mastercard had increased fees 25 percent above inflation since 2017. The regulator estimated that UK businesses paid an additional £170 million annually due to a lack of domestic alternatives.

One ECPA member scheme reported average merchant service charges of 0.20 percent and interchange fees of 0.13 basis points, claiming costs are up to 75 percent lower than those charged by international networks.

In addition to pricing advantages, the report highlights the strategic risks of overreliance on non-European infrastructure, particularly in light of geopolitical instability, data sovereignty issues and digital infrastructure resilience. ECSs, it argues, are better able to align with EU values and policy priorities such as GDPR compliance, emergency preparedness and infrastructure localisation.

Several European schemes have extended their reach beyond national borders, supported co-badging arrangements, and contributed to initiatives such as CPACE and the Digital Euro. The report introduces the term “soverability” to describe Europe’s ability to achieve payments sovereignty through cross-border interoperability among domestic schemes.

The white paper sets out a series of recommendations for EU policymakers and regulators. These include developing a European industrial policy for payments, ensuring that at least one EU-based method is always available to consumers and merchants, expanding adoption of open technical standards, and supporting infrastructure sharing and cross-border acceptance between schemes.

David Stephenson, general secretary of ECPA, said European card schemes are “not relics of the past” and must be recognised for their contribution to economic resilience, innovation and policy independence.