Visa research finds 88% of UK small businesses rank fraud protection as critical when choosing a payment partner, as interest in new technology grows
Security has become the defining factor in how UK businesses and consumers decide to pay, according to new research from Visa.
The card network’s latest UK Payments Pulse report, which surveyed merchants and consumers across the country, found interest in next-generation payment technology is rising. But it concluded long-term adoption will rest on trust, confidence and understanding rather than novelty alone.
Nearly two-thirds of consumers (63%) named the cost of living as their chief concern, while 79% of small and medium-sized businesses said price rises were holding them back, leaving many firms prioritising resilience over expansion.
Fraud has become a purchasing decision
Two in five consumers (40%) said they or someone they know had fallen victim to fraud or a scam in the past 12 months, while 32% of merchants reported a fraudulent or attempted fraudulent transaction over the same period.
The findings arrive as fraud remains high on the UK regulatory agenda, following the introduction of mandatory reimbursement rules for authorised push payment scams in October 2024, overseen by the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR).
Some 88% of SMBs said fraud and cybersecurity protection mattered when selecting a payment provider, and 36% of consumers using cards more often cited security as a key reason for doing so.
Rob Cameron, UK & Ireland Group Country Manager at Visa, said the figures confirmed what the company was seeing across the market.
“Trust is the foundation of payment adoption,” he said. “Consumers and businesses want innovation, but they want to feel safe first. When people feel secure, they engage. Get that foundation right and adoption follows.”
Cameron added Visa monitors network-level trends to head off fraud and works with partners to disrupt scams. The company said it now tackles between 400 and 500 million cyber attacks each month across its global network, and fraud on the network has fallen by 24% over the past three years.
Debit cards are used by 77% of consumers, and 67% said they reach for electronic payments more often than cash, with cash now a secondary option for most everyday spending. For merchants, cards now account for more than half of turnover at 52% of businesses.
Some 45% of small businesses said better payment tools were actively helping them run and grow, a sign the technology is doing more than simply processing transactions.
Agentic appetite outpaces trust
Among SMBs, appetite for emerging payment methods is strong, but many are opting for a cautious approach, with 60% saying they were interested in agentic commerce practices.
Adoption of AI more broadly is already prevalent, with 64% of merchants using it today, most commonly in marketing and customer service, and 69% expect to explore further within two years.
Reservations remain, however. Just under half of merchants (49%) said they were concerned about misinformation generated by AI.
Cameron said merchant curiosity needed to be matched by understanding.
“Merchants are curious about what’s next, especially agentic commerce, but interest needs to be matched with understanding,” he said.
“That’s why we’re focused on helping the UK innovate safely, sharing clear guidance, setting strong standards for new AI-enabled payment experiences, and designing in controls so people stay in charge.
“If consumers can pause, cancel or reverse, and know they’ll be protected if something goes wrong, confidence grows and adoption can follow.”
For now, merchant interest in agentic commerce sits ahead of adoption, with concerns over AI reliability and safety still to be resolved.
