Posted by: Odysseas Papadimitriou

The four major credit card networks – Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover – dictate where credit cards and debit cards can be used.  They are not created equal, however.  Visa and MasterCard boast a significant advantage in terms of worldwide acceptance, while Amex and Discover supplement their payment facilitation business by issuing cards directly to consumers.  Card network rental car insurance, extended warranty, and fraud liability policies vary widely as well.

The card network market share statistics listed below will give you a sense of the hierarchy that exists in the card network space.  Networks are compared based on credit card market share, debit card market share, purchase volume, cards in circulation, and monthly spending.

Market share based on purchase volume

(Source: SEC filings from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover) (Source: SEC filings from Visa and MasterCard)

Market share based on number of cards in circulation (End of 2015)

Visa	MasterCard	American Express	Discover
328 million	192 million	57.6 million	58 million
51.6%	30.2%	9.1%	9.1%

(Sources: SEC filings from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover)

Annual and monthly purchase/spending volume (End of 2015)

	Visa	MasterCard	American Express	Discover	Overall
Annual	$4,095	$3,396	$12,517	$2,042	$4,519
Monthly	$341	$283	$1,043	$170	$377

(Sources: SEC filings from Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover)

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