In the United Kingdom, the Debit Mastercard has become the dominant debit card scheme, operating alongside Mastercard’s Maestro debit card system.
The widespread acceptance of Debit Mastercard worldwide has led most major UK banks to switch to issuing Debit Mastercards rather than Maestro cards in recent years.
The Transition from Maestro to Debit Mastercard
Maestro has been Mastercard’s main debit card scheme in the UK since it was launched in the early 1990s. For many years, Maestro debit cards were the only option offered by Mastercard member banks.
Maestro uses a different technology than Mastercard’s main credit card network, providing differentiation between debit and credit products.
In the late 2000s, Mastercard introduced its Debit Mastercard product in the UK market. Debit Mastercard allows both debit and prepaid cards to be processed over Mastercard’s global network, replacing the need for the separate Maestro system.
Initially, few banks adopted Debit Mastercard, with Maestro remaining dominant. However, this changed over the 2010s as Debit Mastercard gained wider merchant acceptance, especially outside of Europe. Maestro cards are not accepted at many retailers worldwide compared to Debit Mastercard.
Facing this issue, major UK banks such as Lloyds and Barclays made the decision to switch their debit card offerings to Debit Mastercard starting from around 2015. Today, the majority of debit cards issued in the UK are Debit Mastercards, with Maestro in steady decline.
Top Issuers of Debit Mastercard
The top debit card providers that have transitioned to issuing Debit Mastercard in the UK include:
- Clydesdale Bank – Part of CYBG plc, Clydesdale Bank issues Debit Mastercard cards alongside its Yorkshire Bank brand. The bank has over 2 million personal banking customers.
- Danske Bank – The UK subsidiary of the Danish bank offers Debit Mastercards. Danske Bank has around 500,000 customers in Britain focused on Northern Ireland.
- Virgin Money – After acquiring Northern Rock’s credit card business, Virgin Money now issues 1 million+ debit cards. Its debit cards were changed from Maestro to Debit Mastercard in 2018.
- Metro Bank – The fast-growing challenger bank has issued Debit Mastercard since launching its current account in 2010. It now has over 2 million retail and business banking clients.
- Monzo Bank – The digital mobile-only bank was among the early adopters of Debit Mastercard. By mid-2022, Monzo had attracted over 5 million customers to its debit card account.
- Santander UK – Part of the Spanish banking group, Santander transitioned its debit cards from Maestro to Debit Mastercard in 2015. Santander has around 14 million active UK customers.
- Starling Bank – Another fast-growing digital challenger bank, Starling launched in 2017 with a Debit Mastercard product. It now has over 2.7 million accounts.
- Thinkmoney – A subsidiary of the French banking group Societe Generale, Thinkmoney provides Debit Mastercard cards on both its own and Sainsbury’s branded current accounts.
While Maestro still exists in the UK, the scheme is expected to be phased out over the next few years as banks finalize the transition to Debit Mastercard. Mastercard has announced plans to withdraw the Maestro brand globally from 2023 onward. This will leave Debit Mastercard as Mastercard’s sole debit card scheme in Britain and worldwide.
Benefits of Using Debit Mastercard
There are several advantages Debit Mastercard provides compared to Maestro for both cardholders and merchants:
- Global acceptance – Debit Mastercard uses the main Mastercard network, meaning it is accepted for over 90 million locations around the world. Maestro acceptance is more limited.
- Enhanced features – Debit Mastercard includes technology for contactless payments, 3D Secure e-commerce security, and other features that enhance utility for customers.
- Brand recognition – The Mastercard brand is recognized by consumers worldwide, aiding adoption and trust in Debit Mastercard. Maestro has lower brand awareness.
- Smooth transition – Mastercard coordinates the card scheme transition for issuers and merchants, minimizing disruption from the switch.
- Single network – Processing debit and credit over the same network infrastructure provides economies of scale that can reduce costs for banks.
As Debit Mastercard replaces Maestro, UK cardholders now benefit from a globally accepted debit card. Meanwhile, merchants can focus on a single, unified Mastercard debit and credit network for simplified operations.
The migration has enabled Mastercard to remain the leading debit and credit card scheme in Britain amid rising competition.