What exactly is everything else?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 3 min read

What exactly is everything else?

You will probably have seen the adverts by Mastercard – for everything else, well it’s worth considering if there is anything else. We live in strange times, when our allies are behaving like enemies and our politicians are cow-towing to extremism or simply lacking any spine to stand against it.

The UK banking system relies heavily on both VISA and Mastercard, who run about 95% of payment systems. This reliance on a now unreliable system located in the US, with a President who is plainly idiotic and may order the system be “turned off”. It would seem that whilst both VISA and Mastercard are reassuring the UK of their commitment here and that they even welcome competition, we have seen how quickly US companies capitulate to Trump’s threats, putting up as much resistance as wet tissue paper.

I am sure you have observed the growing number of retailers that simply do not accept cash payments anymore. According to the market review (March 2025) in 2023 a whopping 61% of all transactions were using cards, which was 86% of their total value. There are countless adverts for payment machines and the push to Apple pay – which still really relies on the credibility of your original card. The LINK system is the UK’s ATM service to Building Societies and of course we can all do bank to bank payments.

It stands to reason that card payment systems help keep the economy ticking over and working smoothly, it also explains some of the inbuilt inflationary pressures with their additional cut being taken on each of those transactions. The cost of processing is something that many businesses complain about – which costs UK businesses around £170 million more than it did 7 years ago (despite the “competition”). The research unsurprisingly concluded that VISA and Mastercard were making profits substantially above normal profit margins of competitive markets, in essence it’s a cartel of two and another example of capitalism in the extreme.

The UK and European banking system is working on alternatives, the UK somewhat slowly and of course this isn’t helped by our departure from the EU. It is likely that solutions will be derived from digital currency, stablecoin, which offers up its own challenges.

It may be worthwhile reflecting on some of your purchases when shopping online or on the high street about how your money currently moves from your account to the retailer and begin considering your own alternatives. The Government to its credit, at least has a vision for payments.

For your amusement (or mine) here is the clip from Superman 3 (1983) directed by Richard Lester where Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor) an IT hacker, learns of the rounding down that banks do. I like to think that the Banks watched this and did it themselves.

References:

PSR Market Report March 2025: https://www.psr.org.uk/publications/market-reviews/mr22110-market-review-of-card-scheme-and-processing-fees-final-report/

UK Payments Plan vision: https://www.gov.uk/email/subscriptions/single-page/new?topic_id=payments-forward-plan

VISA – Annual report: https://annualreport.visa.com/home/default.aspx

Mastercard Annual Report: https://investor.mastercard.com/financials-and-sec-filings/annual-reports-and-proxy/default.aspx

What is Stablecoin? (Bank of England): https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/what-are-stablecoins-and-how-do-they-work

Superman 3: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086393/?ref_=nm_knf_t_1

BACK TO ALL BLOGS

CASH IN HAND?

TODAY’S BLOG

CASH IN HAND?

At this stage, I am hopeful that the pandemic is drawing to a close, but aware that there are still potential problems and concerning infection rates. As many of us have been tucked away out of harm’s way, you may have had little use for your cash, making most of your purchases online or using contactless payments.

As we all gradually find our winter coats, perhaps there is a crumpled £20 note in a pocket, or better still £50. Well, take this winter as your last reminder that the old £20 and £50 notes are due to be “worthless” from 30 September… next year!

You really have the usual options of spending or depositing them, but leaving the old £20 or £50 in a wallet will soon be an expensive receipt.

MONEY GOES AROUND

There are approximately £9 billion worth of paper £20 and £15 billion worth of paper £50 notes still in circulation. As they are returned to the Bank of England, these are being replaced with the new polymer £20 notes featuring J.M.W. Turner, and polymer £50 notes featuring Alan Turing. After 30 September 2022, the new polymer notes will be the only ones with legal tender status.

After 30 September 2022 people with a UK bank account will still be able to deposit withdrawn notes into their account. Some Post Offices may also accept withdrawn notes as payment for goods and services or as a deposit to an account accessed via them.

The Bank of England will continue to exchange all withdrawn notes. For more information on this please see their Exchanging Old Banknotes page.

Speaking ahead of the date, the Bank of England’s Chief Cashier Sarah John said “In recent years we have been changing our banknotes from paper to polymer because this makes them more difficult to counterfeit, and means they are more durable. The polymer £20 featuring the artist J.M.W. Turner, and the polymer £50 featuring the scientist Alan Turing are now in wide circulation, and we are in the process of withdrawing their paper equivalents. So we want to remind the public that they have one year from today to spend their paper banknotes.”

The new polymer £20 was first issued on 20 February 2020, and the polymer £50 note was first issued on 23 June 2021. You may not have even seen one yet! These notes complete the Bank of England’s first polymer series. The introduction of polymer banknotes allows for a new generation of security features which make them even harder to counterfeit. The notes are also resistant to dirt and moisture and so remain in better condition for longer. These notes also have tactile features that allow the blind and partially sighted to use them.

Dominic Thomas
Solomons IFA

You can read more articles about Pensions, Wealth Management, Retirement, Investments, Financial Planning and Estate Planning on my blog which gets updated every week. If you would like to talk to me about your personal wealth planning and how we can make you stay wealthier for longer then please get in touch by calling 08000 736 273 or email [email protected]

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