Senior UK banking executives will meet this week to begin work on a national card payments system.
The project aims to reduce reliance on US networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
The initiative will be chaired by Vim Maru of Barclays.
City institutions will fund the new company, with government support.
Officials want a backup to keep payments running during major disruption.
About 95% of UK card transactions currently use the two US systems.
Executives warn that losing them would push the economy back toward cash-based payments.
Sanctions that shut down card services in Russia highlighted the potential risk.
The plan, known as DeliveryCo, has been discussed for years.
Recent geopolitical tensions have increased urgency.
Similar debates are taking place in the EU about building sovereign payment networks.
Major lenders including Santander UK, NatWest, Lloyds Banking Group and Nationwide are involved.
Visa and Mastercard are also participating in the talks.
The Bank of England is designing the technical infrastructure.
The system could be operational by 2030 and is intended to improve resilience rather than replace existing networks.
