Credit card trends in Europe: Strategic insights for banks and digital lenders in 2025.
Across Europe, the role of credit cards is undergoing a powerful transformation. No longer seen as just a payment method, the credit card is now central to how financial institutions, both traditional and digital, deliver revenue growth, deepen customer loyalty and meet regulatory expectations in a digital-first era.
Yet this shift is not uniform. Credit card usage, infrastructure maturity and regulatory readiness vary widely between markets, from France’s digital-heavy consumer behaviour to Germany’s legacy cash dominance. For banks, challenger institutions and digital-first lenders, understanding these nuances is key to capturing growth and building credit programmes that last. Backed by insights from Juniper Research and Enfuce’s own industry data, this blog explores how Europe’s credit card market is evolving, what the latest credit card trends are and why 2025 represents a crucial moment for strategic action.
Credit card usage in Europe: A fragmented but growing market.
Europe’s payment landscape is as diverse as its cultures. In France, credit cards are deeply embedded in digital commerce, with 35% of eCommerce transactions and 33% of in-person point-of-sale (POS) payments made via credit. This makes it one of the most mature and profitable markets in the region for issuers.
Germany, by contrast, remains a cautionary tale. Despite being Europe’s largest economy, German consumers are still heavily reliant on cash, using it at nearly four times the rate of French consumers, and five times that of Sweden. But this is changing. The rise of eCommerce, mobile wallets and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) options is accelerating digital adoption, creating a strategic opening for issuers offering flexible, user-centric credit products.
In the Nordics, digital card infrastructure is already the standard. Sweden, in particular, leads Europe in embedded payments and virtual card usage, with consumers expecting features like instant issuance, real-time spend tracking and strong cardholder controls as a baseline. For banks operating in or entering these markets, product agility is not optional, it’s the price of admission.
And then there’s the UK, where credit cards remain the most widely used form of unsecured borrowing. But even in this mature market, the battleground has shifted. With dozens of providers offering similar rates, differentiation now comes from how cards are designed, issued and managed, not just their pricing.
That’s why staying on top of the latest credit card trends across this market remains key to ensuring a successful credit card programme.
Regulation as a catalyst for innovation.
Europe’s complex regulatory environment has often been viewed as a constraint. But for institutions ready to invest in infrastructure that meets these expectations from the outset, it’s fast becoming a competitive edge.
From PSD2’s strong customer authentication (SCA) requirements to the Consumer Credit Directive, GDPR, and e-invoicing mandates, the compliance checklist is long. But so too is the opportunity.
Enfuce’s dual regulation, under both the Finnish FSA and UK FCA, gives issuers a strong foundation for pan-European operations. Compliance isn’t an afterthought. It’s embedded in every layer of the issuing platform, from invoice transparency to interest calculation rules and delinquency tracking. That means banks can expand their programmes across borders with confidence, knowing that regulatory compliance is built into the code, not retrofitted later.
In terms of credit card trends, “compliance-by-design” is an important area for banks and digital lenders to be aware of. For institutions grappling with legacy systems, a compliance-by-design approach reduces risk, speeds up launch timelines and ensures ongoing audit-readiness. In short, it lets your product and compliance teams move in lockstep.
Why digital issuance is no longer a nice-to-have.
The post-pandemic surge in mobile-first banking has permanently changed expectations. Whether it’s a premium credit card or a youth card for first-time users, consumers now expect instant provisioning, digital wallet support, mobile onboarding and embedded controls. Across the UK and Nordic markets, these are no longer differentiators, they are standard.
Legacy issuer platforms often fall short of these expectations, unable to deliver instant value or adapt to changing customer preferences. Enfuce, by contrast, provides a modular issuing infrastructure that lets you deliver digital-first card experiences without needing to overhaul your core systems.
Enfuce helps banks and lenders to meet these enhanced customer expectations by supporting functionality like digital wallets, advanced spend controls and by giving our customers the ability to issue any card. Increased customer expectation around digital services is another key credit card trend we’re seeing. Banks can offer branded credit products with real-time onboarding, flexible billing cycles and personalised MTP logic, all while maintaining full control over credit policies and spend governance.
Turning cards into revenue-generating assets.
As European interest rates fluctuate and interchange caps squeeze margins in some regions, traditional credit models are under pressure. But the smartest issuers aren’t retreating, they’re diversifying.
Credit cards today are multi-revenue assets. Beyond standard interest earnings, they generate income through subscription and invoice fees, ATM and FX markups and even insurance kickbacks from travel or lifestyle perks.
For example, in Germany, where interchange fees sit around 1.85%, a programme with just 10,000 active users spending €300 per month can generate nearly €400,000 annually. Traditional bank-issued programmes, by comparison, might capture only a fraction of that due to rigid issuer splits and inflexible models. For financial institutions, the increased revenue opportunities here is a key credit card trend across the European market. Enfuce enables flexible monetisation models via subscription tiers and configurable fee structures. That means better economics for you and a better value proposition for your customers.
For financial institutions, the increased revenue opportunities here is a key credit card trend across the European market. Enfuce enables flexible monetisation models via subscription tiers and configurable fee structures. That means better economics for you and a better value proposition for your customers.
Product design is now a strategic lever.
Whether you’re targeting affluent transactors or Gen Z revolvers, credit programmes must now be personalised, flexible and transparent. Regulators demand it. Customers expect it.
That’s why Enfuce’s infrastructure includes advanced repayment and spend logic, from dynamic minimum-to-pay configurations to spend bucket tracking and interest-on-interest options. We also support advanced account hierarchies, enabling use cases like parent-child card relationships for families or company card programmes with departmental spend limits and employee-level controls. Our platform enables you to have advanced spend controls, which enable card issuers to tightly restrict how, where and when their payment card is used on group and individual cardholder levels.
These tools enable banks and lenders to segment offers more intelligently, reduce delinquency rates through behaviour-driven nudges and deliver frictionless user experiences aligned with today’s customer demands.
The road ahead: A strategic moment for European issuers.
All of these credit card trends point to huge opportunities for financial institutions looking to broaden their service portfolio, expand revenue generating opportunities or deepen their relationships with their customers. As challenger banks eye new revenue streams and traditional institutions look to revitalise ageing portfolios, one thing is clear: the credit card is back at the centre of European banking strategy.
But this time, success isn’t about being first, it’s about being right. Right infrastructure. Right compliance model. Right product design. And the right partner.
Enfuce offers all of that. With a future-proof platform tailored for the complexities of European regulation, consumer behaviour and market fragmentation, we help institutions build credit card programmes that are profitable, agile and scalable, from one country to many.
