United States Country Report

Table of Contents

A comprehensive overview of the cards, payments and consumer banking market in the United States, with clearsighted commentary backed by salient data. 

The American point-of-sale is on the cusp of a revolution, as over half of debit and credit cards should be contactless-enabled by mid-2021. Other changes are happening in less tangible realms: the Fed is developing a new real-time payments network, intended, among other things, to prise consumers away from their beloved cheque books. Rewards competition may be peaking, but the cards industry remains buoyant and is experiencing profits to match. Zelle and Venmo are making mobile P2P payments popular, particularly among younger segments. Merchants are looking for simple but powerful solutions, leading to integrated payments systems driving growth in merchant acquiring.

What you will learn from this report:

• How contactless will boost revenue for issuers and networks
• How the cards industry profit pool has evolved
• Which technology may undermine mobile payments
• Where issuers are carving out competitive advantages
• Why scale has become so vital to merchant acquirers

US Cards and Payments Market Key Facts

• The credit cards market has been booming, thanks to an intensified focus on high-spending prime customers.
• Credit card spending is fuelled by generous rewards offerings, made possible by high interchange fees.
• Interchange fees have been rising due to growth in online spend and Premium cards.
• Cobrand partnerships are important differentiators for issuers, with Big Tech brands increasingly prevalent.
• Visa and Mastercard continue to benefit from growth in card spend but have also been diversifying into alternative payments.
• American Express has reached acceptance parity with Visa and Mastercard, indicating a change of direction for the brand.
• The ten largest issuers are committed to completing the rollout of contactless payment card portfolios by the end of 2020.
• The Federal Reserve is developing a new interbank real-time payments system to compete with The Clearing House's existing service.
• Three major mergers reshaped the American acquiring market in 2019: FIS/Worldpay, Fiserv/First Data and Global Payments/ TSYS.
• The regulatory environment has been softened over the last two years, with several reforms to the Dodd-Frank Act.