Switch was a debit card brand in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

from 1988 until 2002. It was then merged with

Maestro Maestro (; from the Italian '' maestro'' , meaning "master" or "teacher") is an honorific title of respect (plural: maestros or maestri). The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera, in line with the ubiqu ...

, which is owned by MasterCard.

History

Switch was launched in 1988 by

Midland Bank Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It ...

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, i ...

and

The Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Ba ...

as a multifunction

cheque guarantee A cheque guarantee card was an abbreviated portable letter of credit granted by a bank to a qualified depositor in the form of a plastic card that was used in conjunction with a cheque. The scheme provided retailers accepting cheques with grea ...

and

cash card Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner (the cardholder) to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and ma ...

. The brand was merged with

, an international debit card brand owned by Mastercard, at the end of 2002. This merger was referred to as the "penguin wedding," due to it
distinctive advertisements
of penguins in different international settings created by

Joel Veitch Joel Veitch (born 28 March 1974) is a British web animator, singer-songwriter, and member of the humour website B3ta. Veitch is owner of the web site RatherGood where he showcases many of his animations. Joel has also created the Mr. Stabby an ...

. Since then, Switch has been out of circulation and banks migrated customers from Switch to

. The deal was announced in August 2002. The merger was also intended to increase the acceptance of foreign

cards in the United Kingdom. However, despite the ''Maestro'' brand name, point of sale transactions in the United Kingdom were still processed by Switch Card Services Limited, later S2 Card Services Limited. Consequently, many retailers who advertise that they accept Maestro could only accept cards issued in the United Kingdom, i.e. former Switch cards that supported both UK Domestic Maestro (UKDM) and Maestro International functionality. In March 2011, Mastercard aligned UK Domestic Maestro with the standard international Maestro proposition, ending its status as a separate card scheme. This change also led to the discontinuation of

Solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

debit cards. Switch/Maestro cards issued by certain banks carried an issue number on the bottom of the card corresponding to the number of times a card had been issued on a particular account. This was usually because the

current account Current account or Current Account may refer to: * Current account (balance of payments), a country's balance of trade, net of factor income and cash transfers * Current account (banking) A transaction account, also called a checking account, ch ...

number the card was linked to actually formed a large part of the card number, and therefore the card number could not be readily changed in case of loss or the card expiring. The term "Switch" was commonly used to refer to debit cards in the United Kingdom; however, the brand is largely forgotten now. In January 2009,

First Direct First Direct (styled first direct) is a telephone and internet based retail bank division of HSBC Bank plc based in the United Kingdom. First Direct has headquarters in Leeds, England, and has 1.45 million customers. It was awarded Most T ...

and HSBC discontinued the use of Maestro card, issuing

Visa Debit Visa Debit is a major brand of debit card issued by Visa in many countries around the world. Numerous banks and financial institutions issue Visa Debit cards to their customers for access to their bank accounts. In many countries the Visa Debit ...

cards to new customers, and a gradual roll out throughout 2009 to existing customers. In September of the same year,

Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money for ...

and Yorkshire Bank, both owned by National Australia Bank, started the process of replacing the Maestro card with a

Debit Mastercard Debit Mastercard is a brand of debit cards provided by Mastercard. They use the same systems as standard Mastercard credit cards but they do not use a line of credit to the customer, instead relying on funds that the customer has in their bank ...

for their current accounts, except for the Readycash and Student accounts, for which the Maestro card continued to be issued. Likewise, in the same month the then

Royal Bank of Scotland Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

(Europe's largest debit card issuer which includes the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest,

Coutts Coutts & Co. is a London-headquartered private bank and wealth manager. Founded in 1692, it is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Today, Coutts forms part of NatWest Group's wealth management division. In the Channel Islands and the Isle of ...

and

Ulster Bank Ulster Bank ( ga, Banc Uladh) is a large retail bank, and one of the traditional Big Four (banking)#Ireland, Big Four Irish clearing banks. The Ulster Bank Group is subdivided into two separate legal entities: NatWest, National Westminster Ban ...

) switched from Maestro to Visa Debit, a process that would take two years to complete.Visa Debit
Ulster Bank

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Switch (Debit Card) Debit cards 1988 establishments in the United Kingdom 2002 disestablishments in the United Kingdom NatWest Group