Monopoly on payment terminals faces challenge

An American company has entered the race to break the payment terminal monopoly in Belgium currently held by Worldline, formerly known as Banksys. BNP Paribas Fortis said in September it was planning to introduce its own electronic point-of-sale terminals.                                                                                                                                                                

The Dutch-American European Merchant Services (EMS) is a specialist in payment systems and is aiming to take 10% of the Belgian market, according to financial daily De Tijd. Sales in Belgium using Bancontact/Mister Cash currently account for one billion transactions a year.

However, retailers have criticised the cost of the system. When the system crashed completely last year on December 23 during a rush of holiday shopping, there were calls for an alternative.

The EMS terminals would accept cards from the Bancontact/Mister Cash system and also allow payment by credit card. The first of the new terminals was due to be unveiled this week at Horeca Gent, the food and drinks service industry’s major trade fair. EMS wants to have 30,000 terminals installed by the end of 2017, taking more than 100 million payment transactions a year.

“We are the only company apart from Worldline that can offer its own terminals, a Bancontact/Mister Cash licence and credit card contracts to merchants,” EMS CEO for Belgium Marc Dumortier told De Tijd. “That three-part offer makes us a fully-fledged competitor.”