Payments

Paylobby, a young startup founded in Munich last year, offers an online comparison portal of payment service providers and consultations. With this tool, it wants to help ecommerce businesses optimize their payment systems for their customers' needs, while reducing their online payment costs.

Card fraud losses in Europe hit approximately 1.8 billion euros in 2016. The United Kingdom saw the highest losses. The value lost to fraud was worth 646 million euros in 2015, but increased by 9 percent to about 703 million euros last year. Together with France, the UK accounts for almost three-quarters of card fraud across Europe.

Visa will invest in Klarna, one of Europe's fastest growing online payments companies. Today, the two companies announced they have the intention to develop a strategic partnership in the future. Visa and Klarna want to accelerate ecommerce and mcommerce for the benefit of consumers and retailers in Europe.

Payments processor Worldpay has launched a pilot scheme, which enables microbusinesses to accept payments from costumers with an app instead of needing a card terminal. What is said to be an industry first could really help small businesses with accepting card payments easily.

Klarna has been granted a full banking license by the Swedish financial supervisory authority Finansinspektionen. This means Klarna can operate as a bank, something it wanted for a long time. With a banking license, Klarna kan now broaden its product portfolio for customers and merchants.

Ulmart, the biggest online retailer of Russia, has announced it has plans to start accepting bitcoin as one of the payment methods. When things go through, the popular crypto currency will be accepted on Ulmart starting the first of September later this year.

German consumers still like to pay for their online purchases only after they have received the goods. Most online retailers adapt to this, even when they offer payment by e-wallet or credit card in the first place. Purchase on account has further strengthened its leading position as the most revenue-intensive payment method in the German ecommerce industry. It's followed by direct debit and PayPal.

Six major Dutch banks - ABN Amro, ASN Bank, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank and SNS - have announced they will launch an all-in-one app this summer. This app, Payconiq, enables users to make direct payments online, in-store and peer-to-peer.

Dutch online payment processor Mollie is gearing up for expansion throughout Europe in order to become the first tech-driven European payment service provider. After achieving success in its home country the Netherlands and neighboring country Belgium, Mollie has now established new teams in France and Germany.

Retailer's don't like abandoned baskets. But why do consumers leave their online shopping carts? In the United Kingdom, friction in the checkout is seen as the biggest driver of basket abandonment. A lack of payment methods and a lack of lending or credit options are other popular reasons for consumers to abandon the payment process.

Online shopping via a smartphone or tablet continues to increase in popularity in the Netherlands. The number of online purchases that happened using the smartphone, grew 68 percent compared to 2015. Now, 9 percent of online purchases in the Netherlands happen via the smartphone, while the tablet accounts for 14 percent.

Splitit enables consumers to pay for online purchases with interest-free monthly payments. The fintech startups lets consumers use their existing credit cards and divide the total cost up to 12 payments. Ecommerce News talked to the company, which is now aiming most of the marketing efforts towards Europe.

The PayPal community of customers, which consists of consumers, merchants and charities, has exceeded 200 million active accounts. Also, 50 million PayPal consumers have opted in to use One Touch, the company's quick payment system.

Klarna today announced it acquired BillPay, a German online payment company that's active in several European countries. With the acquisition, Klarna wants to strengthen its position in Europe and further grow in the region.

Payments company Stripe has today introduced support for five popular payment methods in Europe: Bancontact, Giropay, iDeal, SEPA Direct Debit and Sofort. By offering these payment methods, Stripe becomes a lot more interesting for European businesses.