Payments without borders

THANKS TO THE EFFICIENCY OF ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS, WE CAN SAFELY BUY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES EVERY DAY, WHETHER PHYSICALLY PRESENT OR REMOTE.

Wolf Kunisch, Vice-President in charge of Germany, Eastern Europe and Issuing Payment

 
Atos Worldline backs this efficiency and has the expertise to ensure its technical reality. This know-how is the result of nearly 40 years of experience. Our technological control of the entire electronic payments chain means we have today a leading position in the sector in Europe. We currently devote a significant part of our innovation efforts to the design of solutions that will enable the setting up of the Single Euro Payments Area. A distinction should be made between two main skills in terms of payment: acquiring and issuing.

In Belgium, Atos Worldline is the leading provider of payment terminals and associated services available to retailers. The drive for innovation in this sector is high, especially with regard to contactless payments. Atos Worldline SIPS Secure Remote Payment Solution is present on nearly 20,000 e-commerce websites in Europe and is a benchmark solution in the industry. 2009 confirmed the explosion of payments over the Internet and for the very first time, on December 14, SIPS processed more than 1 million transactions in a single day. As in Belgium (see page 18), the special relationships we enjoy with the biggest banks in Germany allowed us to renew a certain number of key contracts in 2009. As the incumbent partner of Commerzbank, Atos Worldline was selected once again and was awarded the issuing management of all the cards of the new bank formed by the merger of Commerzbank with Dresdner Bank. The processing of Postbank credit cards for the next 4 years is another major contract renewed in 2009 in Germany.

Atos Worldline, already Postbank's partner for the processing of its EMV smart cards, gained further ground in the overall field of fraud prevention and specifically in 3D Secure - the payment industry's internet authentication standard. In France, 2009 was influenced by the importance for banks to cope with developments in the Carte Bleue local payment scheme, and the need to connect more directly with the international Visa and MasterCard schemes. Atos Worldline developed offerings to cater for these new needs, and subsequently was awarded two contracts for the connectivity solution with MasterCard. Our French teams also worked on new solutions around "light" electronic payment terminals and related innovative services such as loyalty services management. 2009 also saw marked changes in terms of security requirements with new features added to remote payment systems such as the 3D Secure solution, but also by strengthened authentication for the online services we provide for most of the major French banks, affecting some 50 million consumers. Finally, the issuing sector was active on the transition to a service-oriented Issuing platform for Crédit Agricole, highlighting our focus on innovation in this respect.

Building a Flexible, European Secure Payment Area

After the changeover to euro notes and coins came the SEPA project short for Single Euro Payments Area. The goal is to create a single area offering a unified range of payment means in euros throughout Europe.
With these new unified payment systems, consumers, corporates, retailers and administrations will be able to process payments throughout the European area under the same conditions and as easily as in their home country. Atos Worldline is an active stakeholder in the advancement of these single payment systems, with a dedicated development program that was marked by major breakthroughs in 2009.