Europe

Italian technology firm Nexi has dedicated about $15 billion over the past two months to shore up its position in the European payment processing market, a local burst of consolidation that exists inside a larger wave of similar mergers globally.

Mastercard and PayPal have added to an existing partnership by using Mastercard Send to support immediate access for debit transfers via PayPal's mobile in nine European markets.

The European Payments Initiative sets up a unified and harmonized pan-European payment solution, providing major benefits to both consumers and merchants, says FIME's Arnaud Crouzet.

Payments provider B4B Payments has been authorized to become an e-money institution in the U.K., and is seeking a license in Lithuania so the company can advance its prepaid card business throughout Europe.

As the pandemic has stretched on further into 2020, with more lockdowns and economic disruption predicted heading into the fall and winter, continuing to offer fee waivers has not always proved financially viable.

PayPal is bringing its contactless Business Debit Mastercard rewards card into five additional European countries.

London-based Rapyd has added Mastercard and Visa acceptance to its European payments platform to help merchants take advantage of retail’s shift to online.

American Express is expanding into the fast-growing European market for open banking-based payment initiation services with its Pay with Bank transfer platform.

Biometric cards have garnered more attention in recent times through various trials, but the coronavirus pandemic looks set to accelerate their adoption with a series of major card issuers beginning to roll out the technology.

When the U.K. went into a coronavirus-induced lockdown on March 23 as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced school, office and retail closures, it caused a ripple effect on the U.K. e-commerce market.

Afterpay has entered into an agreement with NBQ Corporate SLU to acquire Pagantis SAU and PMT Technology SLU for €50 million (about $59 million) to expand into France, Italy and Spain — a direct challenge to Klarna, one of the dominant European buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers.

A CBDC has the potential to be a real game changer for the payment industry if one condition is met: central bank digital currency has to be built as an open and shared infrastructure for the private sector to easily build on top of it, says ConsenSys' Matthieu Saint Olive.

For Marqeta, the advancement of 3D Secure 2.0 in Europe presented an opportunity to design its own version of the online security protocol in order to claim ownership of the standard and provide more flexibility for its use with customers.

Citing the benefit of making purchases from home during the coronavirus pandemic, China's UnionPay International is partnering with digital platform Glovo to enable its cardholders in Europe to participate in on-demand shopping.

Mastercard is stepping up its involvement with cryptocurrencies by inviting digital payment operators to launch crypto cards through its platform, beginning with U.K.-based Wirex.

A staged implementation rolling up national systems offers EPI its best prospects. Still, it’s a long shot, says Intrepid Ventures’ Eric Grover.

Tokyo-based payment card network JCB International is positioning itself for post-pandemic tourism growth by signing a deal with 3C Payments to expand payment acceptance in Europe, beginning in Spain.

About 78% of Mastercard’s European transactions are now contactless, and the company expects the shift in payment choice will be permanent.

PSD2 compliance remains a necessary step to protect data and ID even if the coronavirus presents more challenges, says GlobalSign's Arvid Vermote.

The potential for a new card scheme throughout Europe has been a discussion point surrounding the Single Euro Payment Area since its inception more than a decade ago. A new proposal could bring this concept into reality.