The 50 Largest US Debit Card Issuers

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General purpose debit and prepaid cards tied to the 50 largest US issuers generated purchase volume for goods and services of $2.826 trillion in 2022, up 3.2% from 2021.

Purchase volume was generated by consumer and commercial signature and PIN-based debit and prepaid card products settled on the Visa, Mastercard, Discover and domestic-only networks. Not counted here is purchase volume tied to debit card transactions settled via the ACH network and private label prepaid cards settled on closed loop systems as well as cash withdrawals at ATMs and cash back disbursed by merchants.

The 50 largest issued 698.3 million debit and prepaid cards at year-end 2022. This was an increase of 2.1% from 2021. They issued 429.1 million prepaid cards, an increase of 1.2% and 269.2 million debit cards, up 3.6%.

Purchase volume for debit cards only (prepaid cards excluded) was $2.644 trillion in 2022, up 5.6%. Prepaid card purchase volume only (debit cards excluded) from the top 50 issuers was $182.03 billion, down 23.0% versus the top 50 in 2021.

Dual message signature-based debit transactions generated 69.08% of that purchase volume compared to 67.87% for issuers that ranked in the top 50 in 2021. Single message PIN-based debit comprised the other 30.92% of purchase transactions, which compared to 32.13% for the top 50 in 2021.

Transactions for goods and services on debit and prepaid cards from the top 50 issuers totaled 59.99 billion, up 0.9% from 2021. Transactions generated by prepaid cards dropped by 28.1% to 4.25 billion and accounted for 7.09% of all debit and prepaid purchase transactions. That figure was 9.94% in 2021.

In 2022, the average amount of a debit card purchase (prepaid cards excluded) was $47.44, a 1.5% increase from 2021. For prepaid cards only, the average amount of a purchase was $42.81, up 7.0% from 2021.

Excluding prepaid spending, the annual purchase volume per debit card for the top 50 issuers was $9,823, an increase of 2.0% over 2021. The annual purchase volume per prepaid card was $424, down 23.9%.

Wells Fargo overtook Bank of America for the top spot among all US debit card issuers based on combined dual message and single message purchase volume. The three largest issuers—Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase—accounted for 48.59% of the $2.826 trillion in debit and prepaid purchase volume generated by the top 50 issuers in 2022. That market share was down from 48.70% in 2021.

Navy Federal Credit Union moved up to 5th largest from 6th in 2021. The Bancorp Bank moved up to 6th from 8th. ICBA moved up to 10th from 11th. Capital One moved up to 12th from 16th. Citi moved up to 18th from 21st. Schools First FCU moved up to 25th from 27th. UMB Bank moved up to 29th from 42nd. First Citizens moved up to 30th from 31st. Suncoast CU moved up to 35th from 36th.

FirstBank moved up to 42nd from 43rd. Webster Bank (including HSA Bank) moved up to 43rd from 47th. Security Service FCU moved up to 46th from 48th. Associated Bank moved up to 48th from 50th. Old National Bank moved up to 50th from 66th.

Among the top 50 bank card issuers (excluding credit unions), those with the highest percentage increases in purchase volume were UMB Bank, up 73.2% owing to a 100.1% increase in its prepaid volume, Old National Bank, up 42.6% owing in part to its acquisition of First Midwest Bank, Webster Bank, up 22.8% owing in part to its acquisition of Sterling Bancorp, Capital One (up 17.2%), PNC Bank (up 14.1%) and M&T Bank (up 12.8%).

The highest percentage increases in purchase volume among credit union issuers were North Carolina’s State Employees’ CU (up 31.4%), SchoolsFirst FCU (up 16.8%), Mountain America FCU (up 15.3%) and Suncoast CU (up 15.3%).

When measuring only dual message signature-based debit card purchase volume, the 10 largest issuers were Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, Navy FCU, Truist, U.S. Bank, USAA, TD Bank and Capital One. That group accounted for 75.37% of all signature-based debit card purchase volume at the top 50, down from 75.56% for the top 10 in 2021.

When measuring only single message PIN-based debit card purchase volume, the 10 largest issuers were Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, ICBA Bancard, PNC Bank, Navy FCU, Truist, USAA, U.S. Bank and Regions Bank. Those issuers accounted for 77.21% of the PIN debit card purchase volume at the top 50, down from 77.55% for the top 10 in 2021.

When measuring only prepaid cards, the 10 largest issuers among the top 50 ranked by purchase volume were The Bancorp, Pathward, Green Dot, Comerica, UMB, Fifth Third, Bank of America, U.S. Bank, HSA Bank (a subsidiary of Webster Bank) and KeyBank. Prepaid purchase volume at the 5 largest issuers amounted to 85.77% of the total for the top 50 last year, which compared to 82.73% in 2021. The 10 largest issuers accounted for 98.85%, up from 97.71%.

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