Bundesbank board warned about the preponderance of US corporations in payments and said: “In my view, it is time to create an independent European solution involving strong, efficient national systems. ” European alliance

What the Bundesbank Board wished now becomes a little more realistic. Unnoticed by the public, an alliance of major European providers has joined forces to form the European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) in early August. Together, they want to set a standard for smart phone payment, so customers can pay for national banking apps across Europe.

Europe’s leading mobile payment systems Bluecode (Austria, Germany), Twint (Switzerland), Swish (Sweden), Vipps (Norway), MobilePay (Finland, Denmark), Bancontact Payconiq (Belgium) and Sibs / MB Way (Portugal) have become European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) based in Zurich. This European initiative aims to significantly increase the acceptance of mobile payments in Europe.

What the European Central Bank ECB and the Deutsche Bundesbank have repeatedly demanded in recent months is becoming reality: its own system of mobile payments, which has been developed according to European standards and is valid throughout Europe, as a counterweight to non-European systems, which are increasingly penetrating European payments. By pooling the power of seven leading mobile payment providers in the new association European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) based in Zurich (Switzerland), the availability of mobile payment in international payment transactions is to be increased for end customers. EMPSA will initially start a network of nine countries with a total of around 25 million mobile payment users, around one million acceptance points in commerce, Catering and the hotel industry as well as more than 350 affiliated banks arise.

Of those respondents who make payments using a digital wallet, 46% use Apple Pay, 41% Paypal, 9% Google Pay and 3% Samsung Pay.

EMPSA covers the entire DACH region (Bluecode, Twint), the Nordic-Scandinavian region (Swish, Vipps, MobilePay) as well as Belgium (Bancontact Payconiq) and Portugal (Sibs / MB Way). It is expected that other countries and mobile payment systems will join the association in the coming months and the network will continue to grow.

The difference to previous offers: “We want to be an independent alternative, which needs no Apple, no Google, no Visa and no Mastercard,” says Bluecode CEO Christian Pirkner.

The seven EMPSA founding members all use optical payment methods that work by scanning a barcode or QR code on the smartphone (iOS and Android). Rapidly establishing the common system interoperability of these procedures is a central theme of the already established first working group, led by Bluecode and Vipps. As an independent and sole founding member without a bank owner, Bluecode will establish a common standard with the other EMPSA members. “Our approach works by connecting directly to the payer’s checking account, with no US-based debit or credit card systems in between, and optical processes are also running on the iPhone, as the NFC chip blocked by Apple for third-party systems is not needed also with numerous, that end customers – regardless of which payment provider – in the participating countries at all acceptance points according to European privacy rules can pay mobile. After scanning the code at the dealer’s cash register, the purchase amount is simply debited from the payer’s bank’s current account. that end customers – regardless of which payment provider – in the participating countries at all acceptance points according to European privacy rules can pay mobile. After scanning the code at the dealer’s cash register, the purchase amount is simply debited from the payer’s bank’s current account. European alliance

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