7 payment card trends driving the future of programme innovation

If you're a programme operator researching payment card trends, you’re probably looking to:

• Stay ahead of competitors and adapt before market shifts catch you off guard
• Improve the cardholder experience with the latest features and functionality
• Launch or expand a product that reflects what today's cardholders actually want

Turning a fast-moving market into an actual product is no small task without the right technical foundation and expertise already in place. 

As a dual-regulated electronic money institution (EMI) and principal member of Visa and Mastercard, we’ve spent the last decade helping banks, corporates, and fintech companies launch and scale card programmes across Europe and the UK. Our work spans industries like banking and financial services, fleet and mobility, EV charging, expense management, and employee benefits, and we keep a close eye on where the market is heading. 

We know it takes strong infrastructure, regulatory expertise, and speed to launch to turn a trend into a working card product. We were the first financial service provider in the world to be PCI-DSS-certified while running our service in the public cloud, and that same foundation shows up in our partnerships with innovative firms like Octopus Electroverse, Circle K and Porsche. To help you stay informed and plan your business strategy with confidence, we've rounded up seven payment card trends to know and how to take advantage of them.

We'll cover:

• Prepaid cards offer one flexible tool for many use cases, from financial inclusion to corporate expense management
• Debit cards need to keep pace with digital payment habits
• Combination payment cards bring convenience without adding more plastic 
• Credit cards continue to move beyond traditional banking models to reach new customer segments
• Regulated entities gain an edge in embedded BNPL as regulations tighten
• Digital wallet growth means giving cardholders more choice over how they carry their card
• Hyper-personalisation drives demand for individually configurable card products
• How to turn payment card trends into competitive products
• Build payment card products that keep up with trends with Enfuce
• FAQs

Key takeaways

• Personalisation is moving down to the individual cardholder level. Rather than applying one set of rules across a whole programme, operators can set spending controls and permissions at the level of a single card or person.
• Digital capability determines which cards people use. Schemes and issuers with stronger digital wallet, e-commerce, and contactless support are gaining ground on those without it. And as more cardholders go wallet-only, even the physical card itself is becoming optional rather than a given.
• Regulated issuers have an edge in offering embedded BNPL as oversight tightens. Embedded finance and open banking are also letting credit cards move beyond traditional banking models into co-branded and non-bank channels.
• Cards are taking on more flexible, multi-purpose forms. Prepaid cards now support a wide range of use cases, from financial inclusion to corporate expense management, while multi-PAN cards let a single card serve multiple accounts, cutting the need to carry several cards for different purposes.
• Speed and flexibility are just as important as spotting a trend. The programme operators that benefit most from trends are those with infrastructure flexible enough to launch quickly and keep adapting as expectations shift.

1. Prepaid cards offer one flexible tool for many use cases, from financial inclusion to corporate expense management

Prepaid cards are increasingly being used as a flexible payment method across both consumer and commercial use cases. In fact, the European prepaid card market is projected to reach $599.48 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.87%.¹

A variety of businesses are using prepaid cards to meet customer demand and reach more segments. This includes:

• Financial inclusion initiatives² that enable underbanked populations to participate in the digital economy, with prepaid cards serving as an entry point into full banking relationships.¹
• Fleet and mobility card programmes where businesses fund driver expenses with prepaid cards restricted by parameters like merchant, region, and transaction amount.
• Payroll programmes, particularly as a way to quickly pay gig workers, contractors, and temporary employees.¹
• Employee benefits and incentives, with organisations using prepaid cards to distribute rewards quickly and securely.¹
• Corporate expense management programmes, with prepaid cards giving businesses greater visibility and control over employee card spending.¹
• Prepaid gift and loyalty programmes to help retailers acquire, retain, and reward customers.¹

While these use cases aren't new, prepaid card programmes have become more attractive thanks to improvements in technology and payments infrastructure:

• Broader acceptance: Open-loop functionality enables cards to be used anywhere the underlying card network is accepted, making them usable for everything from everyday spending and online shopping to business expenses.³
• Greater convenience: Digital wallet enablement lets cardholders pay through their mobile devices using contactless payments.³
• Stronger security: Features such as EMV chips, biometric authentication, tokenisation, and card controls like instant lock and unlock help build trust and protect funds.²
• Faster access to funds: Digital top-up experiences and regulations such as the EU Instant Payments Regulation make real-time payments and funding easier and more accessible.¹
• More control over spending: With advanced spend controls, programme operators can set granular rules around parameters like merchants, transaction values, locations, and purchase categories.

For programme operators, that means prepaid is no longer a single-purpose product. The same flexible, secure infrastructure that supports a financial inclusion initiative can just as easily power a corporate expense card, making it a low-lift way to enter new markets or customer segments without building a separate programme from scratch.

2. Debit cards need to keep pace with digital payment habits

European consumers increasingly expect their debit cards to work seamlessly across e-commerce, online checkout, digital wallets, and contactless payments. 

Evidence of this shift can be seen in the decline of national debit card schemes. The number of domestic card schemes operating in the EU has fallen from 22 schemes in 2013⁴ to just nine schemes⁵ today. Even among those that remain, many have lost market share. In Denmark, for example, the national Dankort scheme's share of domestic card payments fell from 76% in 2016 to 38% in 2024.⁶ 

As national schemes lost ground, the combined market share of international card schemes like Visa and Mastercard increased from 61% in 2022 to 69% in 2024.⁷ A major factor behind this has been international schemes’ stronger digital capabilities.

Compared to international schemes, domestic schemes were much slower to support e-commerce, digital wallets, and other digital payment experiences. As a result, consumers increasingly turned to international scheme rails for these transactions, including cross-border transactions, either purposefully or because domestic cards co-badged with international schemes naturally used those networks for certain payment types.⁸ 

As consumers increasingly choose payment experiences based on convenience and flexibility, domestic schemes have ramped up their investment in the digital capabilities needed to remain competitive.⁸ 

Similarly, card programme operators will want their debit cards to support a digital-first experience. The ability to support digital wallets, new payment channels, and evolving customer expectations will be key to building debit card products that stay relevant over time.

3. Combination payment cards bring convenience without adding more plastic 

Another payment card trend worth mentioning is multi-account payment cards (also known as Multi-PAN cards), or single cards that support multiple card applications or accounts.⁹ 

The concept reflects how people and businesses already manage their money. Many consumers separate spending across different accounts, while businesses often need dedicated funds for different purposes. But managing multiple cards can quickly become inconvenient.

Multi-PAN cards bring these separate payment options together, removing the need to carry multiple cards for different use cases. Cardholders use a single card and PIN, then select which account they want to pay from at the point of sale. Behind the scenes, each application remains connected to its own account, so every transaction reaches the correct ledger.

For programme operators, this can be a solid way to strengthen loyalty by offering multiple products without overloading cardholders’ wallets. For instance:

• A bank could issue one card that combines debit and credit accounts¹⁰
• An expense management platform could issue employees a single card that supports different spending categories, such as travel, equipment, or lunch allowances.

As customers increasingly expect more flexibility from their payment experiences, multi-PAN cards offer a way to add functionality while keeping the simplicity of a single card.

4. Credit cards continue to move beyond traditional banking models to reach new customer segments

Across Europe, regulated fintechs and non-bank providers like alternative lenders are using open banking to launch and expand credit card programmes. By accessing customer-permissioned financial data under PSD2 – the same open banking infrastructure that also supports account-to-account payments – they can streamline onboarding, make more informed credit decisions, and offer credit cards to customers they may not have been able to assess using traditional credit data alone.¹¹

At the same time, embedded finance is expanding where credit cards appear. Credit cards are increasingly becoming part of broader customer experiences through co-branded partnerships and embedded financial services.¹¹

Fintechs, platforms, and consumer brands are combining credit with travel rewards, loyalty programmes, insurance, expense management, instalment payments, and other value-added services.¹¹ Corporate travel is one example of this shift in B2B payments, with businesses looking for payment solutions that simplify spending, improve visibility, and offer more control over employee expenses.

Together, these trends are creating new opportunities for card programme operators to develop more specialised credit products, reach new customer segments, and deliver experiences that go beyond traditional lending.

5. Regulated entities gain an edge in embedded BNPL as regulations tighten

Regulated card issuers across Europe are building instalment options directly into their existing card and app ecosystems, giving customers BNPL-style flexibility through the payment products they already use.

For instance:

• In Spain, CaixaBank has built instalment payments directly into wallet services like Apple Pay.²
• In Italy, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit continue expanding card-linked instalment options for both e-commerce and in-store purchases.²
• In the UK, NatWest and Barclays are letting customers convert eligible card purchases into instalments after the transaction has taken place.²

Regulated entities have a natural advantage with this approach, with existing underwriting capabilities, compliance frameworks, and risk management processes providing a strong foundation for offering responsible instalment products.

This advantage is becoming increasingly important as oversight on smaller, short-term credit agreements tightens. The EU’s Consumer Credit Directive II brings BNPL under standard affordability and disclosure rules, while the UK FCA is moving towards a supervised framework.²

As regulation increases, established card issuers will likely be better positioned to deliver flexible payment options while meeting evolving compliance expectations. 

That advantage doesn't mean instalment products are limited to institutions with their own banking licence, though. Programme operators can also offer instalment options by working with a regulated credit partner for the underwriting, while an issuer processor handles the technical execution, scheme access, and compliance guardrails. That opens embedded instalments to a broader range of programme operators, from fintechs and alternative lenders to consumer brands entering credit for the first time.

6. Digital wallet growth means giving cardholders more choice over how they carry their card

Digital wallet usage keeps trending upward, and while adoption isn't uniform everywhere, it's reached a point where issuers can't afford to ignore digital wallet enablement.

For instance, in the UK, half of adults used mobile contactless payments powered by near-field communication (NFC) regularly in 2024, showing how mobile payments have moved well beyond early adopters.¹² Younger generations throughout Europe are also continuing to accelerate this shift by becoming “wallet-only” users. In Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, for example, 33-47% of Gen Z consumers rely exclusively on mobile wallets, sometimes paying via QR codes instead of a physical card.¹³

Adding a card to a phone or wearable – whether through Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay,  PayPal, or another wallet provider – is becoming less of a nice-to-have and more of a baseline customer expectation.

As more people move toward being wallet-only, it raises a real question for issuers: does every cardholder need a physical card at all? Some may not want one, maybe for environmental reasons or because they prefer a digital card experience. Others may still want the physical card as a backup or as a preference.

Rather than issuers deciding this upfront, the trend is toward giving cardholders the choice themselves and letting them change their mind later if their preference shifts. Getting this right is becoming a competitive differentiator. As digital-first expectations spread to the mainstream, issuers that offer flexible digital wallet experiences and let cardholders choose how they receive and use their cards will be better positioned to meet evolving customer expectations.

7. Hyper-personalisation drives demand for individually configurable card products

The trend of hyper-personalisation is showing up in a specific form on the card side: spend controls that apply to a single card or cardholder, not just at the programme level.

While general-purpose cards accounted for 91.14% of the European credit card market in 2025, speciality credit cards are projected to grow faster at a CAGR of 5.12% through 2031, driven by demand for products with “commercial features, usage restrictions, and automated reporting, which match stricter budgeting and compliance standards” for enterprises and SMEs.¹¹

In practice, this involves real-time, adjustable controls on parameters like merchant category, transaction amount, and time of day that are set per card rather than applied uniformly across a whole programme, often through a self-serve digital cardholder management experience.

These controls create opportunities for more tailored card products across a range of use cases. For example:

• A bank could issue a consumer card that enables parents to set up cards for multiple children with different spending rules, such as giving an older teenager access to food and social spending while limiting a younger child’s card to essentials such as transport.
• An expense management platform could offer a commercial card that enables companies to issue employee expense cards with individual limits and permissions based on their role, rather than applying the same restrictions across the workforce.

As customers increasingly expect financial products to adapt to their individual needs, the ability to configure cards at the cardholder level is becoming another way to compete on customer experience. Granular controls also make it easier to build differentiated products for specific customer segments without creating entirely separate card programmes.

How to turn payment card trends into competitive products

Spotting an emerging trend is only the first step. The next challenge is turning trend insights into products that deliver meaningful value for customers. Here are some ways to do that by working with an issuing processor like Enfuce. 

1. Spot trends earlier through cross-programme visibility

Spotting these shifts early is easier with the right vantage point. An issuer processor supporting card programmes across multiple markets, industries, and use cases can see patterns emerge across its portfolio before they show up in industry reports.

For example, a spike in spend control requests across expense management and fleet programmes often signals a shift before it becomes a recognised trend. 

That kind of cross-programme visibility gives programme operators an early read on where cardholder expectations are heading, rather than reacting after a trend is already mainstream.

2. Launch card products faster with infrastructure that's already in place

Turning a trend into an actual product usually means changes across issuing and processing, scheme access and certifications, compliance and licensing, fraud and risk operations, and the cardholder experience (e.g., front-end, app, wallets). Complex tasks range from securing scheme connections and building spend control logic to testing all of it before a single card reaches a customer. 

Doing it all from scratch is typically a 12-18+ month process, and often longer once licence approval alone if factored in. That timeline reflects the specialist compliance and engineering resources most programme operators don't keep in-house:

• Licensing or issuer sponsorship
• Scheme access and audits
• BIN management
• Chargebacks and disputes
• Fraud and compliance operations
• 24/7 accountability

In contrast, working with a partner whose core infrastructure already covers this ground can turn a multi-year build into a matter of months.

SEB Embedded, for example, uses Enfuce's existing issuing and processing infrastructure to bring card programmes to its own Banking-as-a-Service clients faster, without having to build that technical and compliance foundation itself.

3. Apply trends down to the individual cardholder 

Speed alone isn't enough. Applying a trend well also depends on the platform's flexibility. 

Hyper-personalisation, for example, requires granular spend controls that can be set and adjusted per card or cardholder, not just at the programme level. 

A platform built to support that level of granularity, alongside a range of card types from prepaid to multi-PAN, lets operators apply a trend like this to one segment of cardholders without a full programme rebuild in most cases.

For instance, when Shuttel moved from a closed-loop mobility solution to an open-loop card programme, broader card acceptance created the need for more sophisticated controls. Enfuce’s advanced spend controls enabled Shuttel to configure rules based on merchant, region, transaction value, and time of day, helping ensure its cards could be used across transport, parking, fuel, and other approved mobility expenses while following programme rules.

4. Get hands-on support for ideas beyond the standard feature list 

Some of the strongest trend-driven products come from combining existing capabilities in a new way, such as multiple benefit categories on one card, or spend controls tuned to a specific industry's workflow. This typically means working directly with a partner's product and engineering teams rather than picking a feature off a list. 

If a trend calls for something that doesn't exist yet, you want a partner willing to co-innovate rather than limiting you to their existing products. For example, when Swile wanted to bring multiple employee benefits together into a single card experience, Enfuce helped them solve the complexity of managing different benefit categories and VAT treatments in a single card programme.

Ultimately, the operators who benefit most from these trends are the ones who can spot them early, tailor products to their own cardholders, and go beyond the obvious when a trend calls for something new – a combination that's hard to build entirely in-house.

Build payment card products that keep up with trends with Enfuce

Enfuce's modular, API-first issuing and processing platform covers the ground described above: prepaid, debit, credit, and multi-PAN card programmes, built-in spend controls, and the infrastructure to launch in months rather than years. And if an idea goes beyond what's already available, our product and engineering teams are here to build it with you.

FAQs on payment card trends

How are credit card trends changing as BNPL regulations increase in Europe?

Regulated card issuers are embedding instalment options directly into existing card and app ecosystems rather than competing with standalone BNPL apps. As the EU's Consumer Credit Directive II and the UK FCA's supervised BNPL framework tighten oversight, regulated issuers' existing underwriting and compliance infrastructure gives them an edge in offering responsible embedded BNPL products.²

What are the latest digital wallet trends in the UK and Europe?

Digital wallet adoption is now fairly widespread in the UK and Europe. Half of UK adults used mobile contactless payments regularly in 2024,¹²and in Europe, digital wallet adoption ranges from roughly 80% among 18-24 year-olds down to 62% among 55-65 year-olds.¹³

The next growing trend is wallet-only usage. For instance, 33-47% of Gen Z consumers in Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland now rely exclusively on mobile wallets.¹³ As this becomes the norm, the trend is also shifting toward letting cardholders choose between whether they want digital cards, physical cards, or both.

How are fraud prevention trends changing card payments?

Card fraud prevention has moved from reactive defences to proactive detection, powered by AI and real-time identity verification. The more transactions a fraud detection system sees, the better it gets at spotting patterns, which is why fraud management services serving many programmes at once have an edge over single-programme setups: more data means faster pattern recognition.

Sources

1. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/europe-prepaid-cards-market 
2. https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/6057076/prepaid-card-market-outlook 
3. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/uk-prepaid-card-market 
4. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/intro/mip-online/2019/html/1904_card_payments_europe.en.html 
5. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/ecb.reportcardschemes202502~1614226b0a.en.pdf 
6. https://www.nationalbanken.dk/media/gdlhtpyk/payments-in-the-nordics.pdf 
7. https://publikationen.bundesbank.de/publikationen-en/reports-studies/monthly-reports/monthly-report-december-2025-972374?article=the-payments-ecosystem-in-transition-current-developments-in-the-german-card-market-972390 
8. https://flagshipadvisorypartners.com/insights/podcast-the-battle-between-local-and-international-card-schemes-in-europe/ 
9. https://thepaymentsassociation.org/article/cards-still-vital-to-the-modern-uk-payments-market/ 
10. https://www.fastcompany.com/91138632/visa-credit-debit-cards-changes-fewer-plastic 
11. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/europe-credit-cards-market 
12. https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/system/files/2025-10/Payment%20Markets%20Report%20Summary.pdf 
13. https://www.visa.co.uk/content/dam/VCOM/regional/ve/unitedkingdom/PDF/uk-visa-mobile-wallets-paper-nov-2023-final.pdf

Enfuce is a global card issuing payment processor built for banks and mid-to-enterprise-level fintechs, lenders, and fleet and mobility providers looking to scale existing card programmes or launch new ones.