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No one's stopping you issuing your own card. The barrier is in getting your card accepted by zillions of retailers and online merchants. Having built that netwo

No one's stopping you issuing your own card. The barrier is in getting your card accepted by zillions of retailers and online merchants. Having built that network is what entrenches Visa and MC. PayPal has attacked this in the online space by offering merchants a credit card checkout flow that also allows you to pay straight from your linked-directly-to-bank-account PayPal account. Square is attacking it in a similar way in the physical domain. Companies like WeChat and Grab are also working on alternative ways to pay for common things. It's definitely a duopoly, but the solution here probably looks like some kind of government-overseen/mandated standard which allows a reasonable hurdle for newcomers to participate on both the consumer and merchant side.

iamacyborg 6y ago
> The barrier is in getting your card accepted by zillions of retailers and online merchants. Having built that network is what entrenches Visa and MC. Open Banking is interesting in that regard, in that it allows for account to account transactions. Worldpay have apparently built some tech to support it https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36039/worldpay-rolls-out-open-banking-hub-for-account-to-account-payments https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36039/worldpay-rolls-ou...
Dirlewanger 6y ago
The amount of government regulation has led to this payment processing duopoly. Not saying it's a bad thing, just that it's the major reason of how we got here.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  Most of what I'm aware of in terms of banking/CC regulations is oriented around consumer protection (without which you don't have acceptance of the system). What are the regulations which have reinforced the duopoly? (honest question)
varispeed 6y ago
The EU should require these operators to extract the infrastructure business part and then that new company should have to be required to accept any payment provider that meets legal requirements on the same terms as any other provider (including VISA or MC). It is the only way to bring free market to that space (someone may take that as an irony, but true free market capitalism doesn't exist, exactly for the reasons like this)

iamacyborg 6y ago

> The barrier is in getting your card accepted by zillions of retailers and online merchants. Having built that network is what entrenches Visa and MC. Open Banking is interesting in that regard, in that it allows for account to account transactions. Worldpay have apparently built some tech to support it https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36039/worldpay-rolls-out-open-banking-hub-for-account-to-account-payments https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36039/worldpay-rolls-ou...

Dirlewanger 6y ago

The amount of government regulation has led to this payment processing duopoly. Not saying it's a bad thing, just that it's the major reason of how we got here.

mikepurvis 6y ago
Most of what I'm aware of in terms of banking/CC regulations is oriented around consumer protection (without which you don't have acceptance of the system). What are the regulations which have reinforced the duopoly? (honest question)

varispeed 6y ago

The EU should require these operators to extract the infrastructure business part and then that new company should have to be required to accept any payment provider that meets legal requirements on the same terms as any other provider (including VISA or MC). It is the only way to bring free market to that space (someone may take that as an irony, but true free market capitalism doesn't exist, exactly for the reasons like this)