--- title: Mastercard and Visa are making moves to defend their payments duopoly - The Hustle description: With Big Tech and governments rolling out non-card payments solutions, Visa and Mastercard are making investments to defend their payments turf. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1699707481-hustle_emailimage_Oct6_20201009011937.webp --- # Mastercard and Visa are making moves to defend their payments duopoly ![Trung T. Phan](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg) [Trung T. Phan](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/trung-t-phan) [Trung T. Phan Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan) Published: October 21, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 Mastercard and Visa are the world’s pre-eminent payment processors. ![Mastercard and Visa are making moves to defend their payments duopoly](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1699707481-hustle_emailimage_Oct6_20201009011937.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1699707481-hustle_emailimage_Oct6_20201009011937.webp) The two firms account for 90% of card payments outside of China and have a combined market value of ~$800B. As the industry expands beyond cards, however, the duopoly is being forced to defend its payment turf like [Ron Burgundy](https://youtu.be/ipsPgNEmAXI?t=17) and the KVWN channel 4 team in *Anchorman*. #### **Google and Apple both have mobile payment offerings ** Meanwhile [Amazon](https://thehustle.co/10012020-amazon-one/) is trying to enter the race with a palm reader. And, according to [*The Economist*](https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2020/10/03/mastercard-and-visa-seek-to-get-the-most-out-of-the-digital-payments-boom), 55 countries have “real-time” automated clearing-houses (ACH) solutions, even bigger than Big Tech’s. These national bank-to-bank ACH systems were traditionally used to disburse recurring payments (e.g., payrolls, benefits) but now also serve as data pipes, which can be used to monitor fraud. #### **The duopoly isn’t sitting idle** Mastercard recently partnered with [ACI Worldwide](https://www.pymnts.com/news/payment-methods/2020/aci-worldwide-mastercard-join-together-to-ramp-up-real-time-payments/), a banking solutions firm that has created software for real-time payments. Visa has “set up its own alternative to fast ACH, called Visa Direct, and offers services, such as security tools, to help strengthen countries’ payment networks,” according to *The Economist*. Further, both firms acquired bank-to-bank processors last year to help facilitate international payments (and potentially compete against the [SWIFT](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/050515/how-swift-system-works.asp) global bank messaging system). The traditional card network is still growing at double digits but these moves show that Visa and Mastercard aren’t effing around. 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