
Debit or Credit transactions are the fastest-growing segment of non-cash payments.
If banks do not participate, they are ceding enormous volumes of global transactions and losing the opportunity for scale efficiencies in card payments as a whole.
Card payment as a product, cards are also the only instrument with export potential (compared to credit transfers and direct debits), and are a less capital-intensive retail-development product than, for instance, branches.
Emerging payment technologies
These new technologies and business models (for examples, NFC Contactless, Mobile Payments Market) could ultimately complement or rival cards.