British Banks Prepare for US Card Network Shutdown

0:00On April 3rd, British banks are scrambling to build their own payment system as fears grow that Donald Trump could cut off visa and master card over. Tensions with the U.K. Trump has blasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO allies for not backing the U.S. on Iran, and now top lenders worry a U.S. president might use these. Card giants as economic weapons, just like sanctions, have hit Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela. Here banks like Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest, and Nationwide are speeding up talks for a home-grown card network to handle over 30 billion payments. Worth 1 trillion pounds a year. These U.S. firms processed 95% of U.K. car transactions in one of the world's most cashless economies. The potential fallout would be brutal shops, restaurants, and petrol stations would grind to a halt without contactless or chippin' pin. All businesses would suffer most, ATMs could fail, leading to bank runs and empty cash machines.

1:00All my shopping and tourism would tank too, rippling into supply chains and full economic meltdown. We've seen glimpses before, in March 2022, Joe Biden ordered visa and master card to pull out of Russia, causing real pain there despite their backup system. And back in June 2018, a few hours of visa downtime across Europe left millions stuck in cues at supermarkets and stations. While a British alternative won't be ready for at least five years, experts urge keeping cash handy as a safeguard against cyber glitches or political. Spats, because in today's tap and go world, losing those cards could rewind as decades overnight.