Competition for payment service Worldline comes to Belgium

A new competitor on the market of electronic payments management is about to arrive in Belgium. Adyen International Payment Services, based in Amsterdam, promises to avoid the problems that have plagued market-leader Worldline in recent weeks.

On at least two occasions in the last two months, Worldline has suffered a breakdown – in the first case for several days, in the second case for less than an hour. Retailers that accept electronic payments found the money paid by the client was not transferred to their account, causing serious cash-flow problems and, in some cases, forcing retailers to stop accepting electronic payments.

Adyen has been in business for nine years and counts Facebook, Netflix and Dropbox among its clients for payment services. The company claims to offer a simpler service than anything currently available. “Our prices are competitive, but we compete more on the level of quality,” commented Julien Marlier, Adyen’s manager for Belgium.

Adyen already has an agreement with Bancontact/Mister Cash, the payment card system used by Belgian banks.

Worldline has a virtual monopoly of the Belgian payments market. The bank BNP Paribas Fortis, however, has started offering business clients its own terminals, which use the Swiss-based Six Payment Services. Large customers like Colruyt and Ikea have also moved away to the competition. Last year Worldline turned over €1.15 billion, showing growth of 2.8%, under the forecast of 3-4%.

Photo courtesy Bancontact.com