It may well be a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and perhaps a contractual or purely business-driven choice to adopt Mastercard in Visa's stead.
Given the current trend of 'ethical' banking and financial institutions wading into the political arena, it wouldn't surprise me either if Mastercard were chosen for their hot take on who they choose as viable customers, as they've already proven to block payments and donations not 'aligned' with their values.
Coupled with Natwest's emails - which are less informative and more hostile these days - companies are taking it upon themselves to purge undesirables.
A lot of these upcoming changes are of course sound in principle, but no clear definitions are ever given. So if decided that peer-to-peer payments received are fishy, you have the bank filtering your transactions, coupled with Mastercard, and before long find your subscription to the Daily Mail annulled, and your account closed!
I suspect this will trickle down to casino transactions also in time. Or maybe not? But one things for certain - if you thought SoWs were a bone of contention, then think again. Banks are delving into people's autonomy evermore, and I guess it's here to stay, and either a good or a bad thing.
Take your pick
