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IPSO has recently received many enquiries from consumers, retailers, new businesses and even new banks about the future of debit cards in Ireland. This is hardly surprising given there has been a lot of talk about Laser Card being replaced by other debit card brands.

Recent Developments

In the past twelve months the Laser Scheme has seen the withdrawal of three members in favour of one of the international brands, which include Visa Debit and Debit MasterCard. The Scheme’s two largest members have issued public notices regarding their intention to issue Visa Debit in the near future and the remaining member is currently considering its options.

Why have Laser’s Members Decided to Move?

It’s simple. Laser Card had a purpose and it has served that purpose. The card was introduced in 1995 as the electronic form of the cheque. Almost every adult residing in Ireland holds a Laser Card and now 190 million transactions, worth €11.1billion, are processed every year. It is a popular card and a very well-known brand, having become a national household name during its short life. It is a small domestic scheme, owned by its member banks and managed on a non-profit basis. While the card payments world is changing fast, it is realistic to say that to develop Laser Card to meet the future needs of its cardholders would incur huge investment costs, on banks, on retailers and ultimately on consumers. The Scheme’s member banks recognised this and have chosen to avoid that by moving to options that will give greater economies of scale, international backing, broader global acceptance and considerably lower costs than would have arisen through an attempted national-scale development.

What to Expect

The future for card payments is exciting, with developments such as contactless card payments, person-to-person payments and mobile payments on the horizon and already beginning to happen. With these developments come security considerations, better customer authentication requirements and improved card technologies. While the solutions are available to Irish banks from the global card schemes, IPSO will remain as the representative body for its members, ensuring that the integrity of debit card payments is upheld.