The UK payments landscape is evolving at pace. New technologies are emerging, consumer expectations are shifting, and businesses are navigating a challenging economic environment.
Yet amid all this change, one principle is unmistakably clear - trust remains the defining factor in how people choose to pay, and how businesses are able to grow.
Our latest UK merchant and consumer research highlights just how central trust is. When it comes to fraud, 88% of small and medium-sized businesses say fraud protection is critical when choosing a payment partner. Fraud is sadly part of everyday life. Four in ten consumers have experienced fraud directly or through someone they know, while nearly a third of merchants have faced fraudulent transactions or attempted fraud in the past year.
Fraud isn’t abstract. It’s personal, it’s present, and it’s influencing how people choose to pay. At Visa, our role is to help keep commerce moving safely, using network-level intelligence and advanced technology to help stop fraud before it causes harm, and working with the wider ecosystem to make it harder for scammers to operate in the first place. Whilst the scale of the challenge continues to increase, Visa is now blocking between 400 and 500 million cyber-attacks monthly on our network globally, and fraud has reduced by 24% on the Visa network in Europe over the past three years.
Innovation is accelerating, but confidence determines adoption
There is no shortage of innovation in payments today. From AI-enabled fraud detection to the rise of agentic commerce and stablecoins, the possibilities are endless.
Merchants are clearly leaning in: 64% of SMBs are already using AI, and many are exploring further investment in the next two years. Visa has been investing in AI technology for over 30 years, first to fight fraud and now to drive this new wave of commerce where AI agents can shop and pay securely on your behalf. Just like the shift from physical shopping to online, and from online to mobile, Visa is setting the standard for a new era of AI commerce.
Whilst AI commerce is piquing interest, there’s a gap between awareness and understanding. Many consumers simply aren’t sure how these technologies work or whether they’re safe. Stablecoins are also still unfamiliar. Cryptocurrency adoption remains relatively low.
That tells us something important: innovation can’t scale without confidence. And confidence doesn’t happen by accident. It must be built intentionally. Visa is looking to do exactly that, through setting the international standards for a new era of AI commerce, as we power the next generation of payments innovation, with trust built in.
Consumer demand is setting the pace
The UK is one of the world’s leading payments markets, often setting the pace for how people pay globally. That puts the focus on making sure innovation works in practice and works safely. At Visa, we help make that happen by connecting the ecosystem and building in security at scale.
One of the most notable shifts in today’s ecosystem is that innovation is increasingly being driven by consumers themselves.
Digital payments are now firmly embedded in everyday commerce, with 77% of consumers saying they regularly use debit cards. This widespread adoption reflects not just convenience, but a confidence in the system. Cards and digital payments have earned trust over time by being reliable, secure and predictable, especially when household budgets are under pressure.
New ways to pay are also gaining traction as businesses respond to changing consumer habits and expectations. 70% of consumers say the electronic payment systems in the UK adapt quickly to changing public needs. Consumers are also increasingly looking to digital payments to support wider financial services, with 71% of 18 – 34-year-olds using them to track spending.
The challenge now is ensuring that these new forms of payment meet the same standards that consumers expect. Demand alone is not enough, for new payment models to scale, they must be: trusted, understood and designed with protection at their core.
Trust is the multiplier for growth
Trust is not just a defensive measure. It is a growth driver.
When consumers and businesses feel secure:
- They are more likely to adopt new technologies
- They are more confident in transacting digitally
- They are more willing to experiment with new experiences
Trust acts as an economic multiplier - when people believe systems are safe and resilient, they are more willing to spend, invest and adopt new services.
At Visa, this approach is central to how we innovate.
As we look to the future of payments, from agentic commerce to stablecoins and technologies yet to be imagined, everything will rest on maintaining trust.
This content was developed for a European audience and relates to Visa’s offerings in Europe
The research was conducted in April 2026 by Public First, among a sample of 2,072 UK adults and 2,018 senior decision-makers at UK SMBs accepting card payments.