Our membership and governance
This section provides an overview of our membership and governance arrangements. Membership of The UK Cards Association is open to any organisation that issues payment cards in the UK under the MasterCard, Maestro, Visa, American Express or LINK scheme, or that acts as a merchant acquirer in the UK for any of these schemes.
Members who issue a million or more cards under these schemes (of which at least half must be debit, credit or charge cards) and/or acquire at least 5% of total UK card purchase transactions are entitled to a seat on The UK Card Association’s Board. Organisations that fall below these volume criteria are eligible to join The Association and are entitled to receive the full paperwork (agenda papers, minutes, reports etc.) circulated to board members; they also may be represented collectively on the Board.
The Board of The UK Cards Association
The most senior body of The UK Cards Association is the Board. It is responsible for setting the strategic priorities for the industry and is open to both UK issuers and acquirers. The Board typically meets on a quarterly basis and oversees the work of a number of sub-committees dealing with specialist areas. More detail on the main committees can be found in the guide to our services and working practices.
Chair of The UK Cards Association
The Board of The UK Cards Association, The Association’s most senior decision-making body, is independently chaired from outside the industry by a non-practitioner.
From September 2009, the first independent chair of The UK Cards' Board is Melanie Johnson. Melanie was the Labour MP for Welwyn Hatfield for eight years until 2005 and enjoyed a notable political career, with Ministerial posts as Economic Secretary at HM Treasury; at the former DTI (now BIS) as Minister for Competition, Consumers and Markets; and latterly at the Department of Health as Minister for Public Health.
In her time at the DTI, Melanie undertook the first review of consumer credit legislation for more than 30 years and protected consumers against abuse of their rights through the introduction of stop-now orders.
Our Membership List
List of members (as at Jan 2010)
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Board members of The Association |
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Other members |
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