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The head of a Belgium-based company hoping to launch another payment card brand for Europe tells CardLine Global sister publication Cards&Payments the proposed scheme has attracted "a lot of interest" from merchants hoping to save money on transaction fees. Dominique Buysschaert, CEO of European Payment Solutions, is billing the planned Payfair brand as the "Ryanair of payment schemes," referring to the low-cost carrier that has helped shake up the airline industry in Europe. European Payment Solutions would continue to base the scheme in Europe, he says. Buysschaert, an attorney and former Belgium-based executive with France-based hypermarket chain Carrefour Group, declines to say which retailers are interested in participating. But a source tells Cards&Payments Carrefour is among them. Buysschaert says the scheme initially would focus on food retailers and petrol stations. "Once a week, you fill the fridge and your petrol tank," he said last week at the European Financial Management and Marketing Association's Cards & Payments conference in Paris. "If you can convince these operators to adopt and accept your scheme, there is a place for a business model." Buysschaert declines to say how much lower Payfair's interchange and merchant fees would be compared with pan-European card brands run by MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Europe. He says, however, the rates will be substantially lower. "What do merchants want?" he asked at the conference. "Cost reduction, cost reduction, cost reduction." The scheme appears likely to have fixed-rate fees for transactions instead of charging a percentage of the transaction amount, Buysschaert adds. The fees "will be Ryanair-like: low-cost. They fly with the same planes as Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways, with the same certification but with a good price." Banks and issuing retailers both could take part in the scheme. And while European Payment Solutions is trying to take advantage of merchant dissatisfaction with existing pan-European card networks, retailers neither will own nor manage the brand, Buysschaert says. Buysschaert predicts the scheme would launch during the first quarter of 2009 in France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg following a trial this year by Belgian retailer Colruyt Group.
