Swiss consumers with a Twint digital wallet will be able to make digital payments with their credit card or directly from their bank account in other European countries from 2022, the Swiss mobile payments service says.
Twint revealed plans to launch cross-border payments at a press conference where it also unveiled a range of other services it intends to add to its app, including ticketing, parking payments, restaurant reservations, food ordering, car rental and ‘buy now, pay later’ instalment plans.
Its cross-border payments service is to roll out with support from the European Mobile Payment Systems Association (EMPSA) that it co-founded with seven other service providers in September 2019 with the aim of establishing an interoperable payments system across Europe.
Twint has not confirmed which countries will support the service at launch, but did say that it trialled cross-border payments in Germany last year.
“Apparently, Twint now has concrete ambitions and wants to expand abroad. For the time being, the focus is on neighbouring countries,” Swiss banking and finance publication Money Today reports.
“Anton Stadelmann, deputy CEO of Twint, is confident that the app can be used in the first countries from 2022. The first tests in Germany had already taken place successfully in 2020.
“The foreign plans in progress are related to EMPSA. EMPSA intends ‘among other things to ensure the interoperability of the mobile payment systems across national borders’. 14 payment providers from 15 countries are currently organised in the EMPSA, who pursue these common interests.
“The start of Twint in two or three countries in 2022 is just the beginning, with other international destinations to follow.”
Twint’s plans for “numerous other comfort and lifestyle functions” include “food orders with home delivery, e-bike and e-scooter reservations, car rentals, insurance and more,” Money Today adds.
“The planned parking garage function without tickets is also interesting: if the car licence plate is recorded in Twint, the barriers open automatically when you leave the car and the parking time is deducted.
“And, currently a successful model for numerous fintechs and now also in the works for Apple Pay, a ‘buy now, pay later’ service. What users buy and pay via Twint could then be divided into instalments.
“These are the visions of the future, says Twint, but they are concrete and are in full swing.”
Source NFC WROLD
