Payment cards are considered as the main drivers of the shift from paper-based towards electronic-based payment instruments, which is commonly viewed as a significant socioeconomic and welfare improvement. This shift, however, is following a slow path in many developed countries which may be, at...

This working paper provides a critical survey of the large and diffuse literature on credit cards, debit cards and ATMs. We argue that because there are still many outstanding issues and questions about the pricing, use and substitutability of these payment mechanisms, that there are significant...

Card issuers have mainly relied on rewards programs as their main strategic driver to increase debit and credit card payments. However, there is scarce evidence on the effectiveness of rewards programs. This working paper offers novel evidence on two key issues in this area using unique data...

Studies of banking competition and competitive behaviour both within and across countries typically utilise only one of the few measures that are available. In trying to assess the relative competitive position of banking markets in 14 European countries, we find that the existing indicators of...

We model bank oligopoly behaviour using price and non-price competition as strategic variables in an expanded conjectural variations framework. Rivals can respond to changes in both loan and deposit market prices as well as (non-price) branch market shares. The model is illustrated using data...