The Power of Plastic Money: The Causes and Consequences of National Control over Payment Card Markets in Europe

Against the expectation that in a global world a few multinational credit and debit cards will dominate, payment card markets show surprising national variation. In countries like Hungary or the Czech Republic, banks issue no domestic credit or debit cards. In Denmark and Belarus domestic cards dominate (Dankort and Belcart, respectively). In Russia, there is a mix of domestic and international cards, but the government wants to marginalize Visa and MasterCard in favor of a new national card. The Single Euro Payment Area is working on its own payment card scheme. As states recognize that electronic payment is a source of information on the economy and citizens, they are less and less willing to hand control to US based multinationals over money and people.  Our paper explores the causes and consequences of nations letting global brands take over their consumer payment system or opting for a national payment card.