This brief is the Competitor Focus section of Datamonitor's "UK Plastic Cards 2007" report. In it, Datamonitor presents card scheme market shares for charge, credit and debit cards. It also analyzes the market shares of issuers in the UK credit card market. The final segment of the chapter discusses key competitor developments that have taken place over the last 12 months.

Scope

This product presents the number of consumer payment cards in the UK from 2002 to 2006, broken down by card type, and scheme. Card issuer market shares are presented for the UK credit card market, by cards in issue and balances outstanding. The brief includes an analysis and breakdown of the private label card market by issuer. The brief includes a summary and analysis of the recent activity in the UK payment card market, including M&A activity and product launches.

Highlights

Visa continues to be the dominant scheme in the pay now market, whilst MasterCard is gaining ground on Visa in the credit card market. American Express has regained its position as the leading charge card scheme. 2006 saw a continuation of the trend of monoline and smaller issuers taking business away from the larger and more established retail banks. The year was relatively quiet in terms of takeover activity and consolidation in the market, but saw the introduction of contactless payments as well as the growth in the prepaid sector. There is also a growing interest in "green products" in the UK market.

Reasons to Purchase

Discover which issuers have seen the biggest growth through 2006. Understand the competitive dynamics between the major payment card schemes in the UK Learn about product development and launches in the UK market.