German banks want to start own payment service in 2015

German banks will start pilots in August of 2015 for their own online payment method. They want to build an alternative to the online payment service PayPal. According to Wilhelm Gans, director of the Deutschen Sparkassenverlags, they want to start such service when it’s Christmas next year.

That’s what Gans told the German newspaper Die Welt. He also said that there’s still no name for the service, which can be used online by consumers to pay with just a mouse click. So far, the project runs under the abbreviation ‘BV’ (short for ‘Bezahlverfahren’, which is German for “payment methods’).

Under the umbrella of the German banking industry, local banks are working to come up with a competitor for PayPal. The savings banks had long kept open if they want to collaborate with the cooperative banks and private institutions or that they prefer to launch their own solution. Now it seems to be resolved. “I’m assuming the savings banks participate in this new payment methods”, says Gans. Although the final decision is still pending, according to Die Welt it seems clear the three bank types have moved towards each other in recent months.

Limited to ecommerce at first
The newspaper states that there was some discrepancy between the three major banking groups about the scale and marketing of the online payment service. But now, according to Gans, it was agreed that the Germany PayPal variant will be limited to ecommerce at first. “A later extension to mobile payments happening in-store is not ruled out”, he added. A bit surprising maybe, but unlike the representatives of the saving banks, none of the other two partners (Bundesverband der Deutschen Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken and Bundesverband Deutscher Banken) would comment on the status of this project.

Die Welt writes it’s highly doubted that the German banks will be in time when they launch their payment service at the end of next year. There are already several digital and mobile payment systems on the market, and these financial start-ups often have more to offer than the “BV project”.

Acquisition of Payone
The bank’s move into the online payment world, is a logical move after Der Deutsche Sparkassenverlag has acquired 80 percent of Payone, a company that handles payments for online stores. The acquisition is an important element in the strategy of the financial institutions to offer their customers payment solutions across all channels.

Payone was founded in 2003. With a transaction volume worth around 3 billion euros and about 2,500 corporate clients Payone is one of the biggest independent payment service providers in Germany.