Payconiq

Payconiq International S.A. is a Luxembourg-based company developing a mobile payment and payment processing platform, active in Luxembourg and Belgium. Since October 2023, it has been controlled by The European Payments Initiative (EPI).

Payconiq had the initial support of ING Bank, which was joined later by Belgian banks KBC Bank and Belfius, and launched its first minimum-viable product in Belgium, in 2015. The company discontinued its services in the Netherlands on 1 January 2022.

The less complete mobile app is today a more fleshed-out platform offering multi-country payment solutions in Benelux, through different types of integration: stand-alone apps, bank app integrations and more.

Luxembourg
Payconiq International established its headquarters in Luxembourg through the acquisition of the Luxembourgish fintech startup Digicash Payments, in 2017.

In 2019, the company received its Payment Initiation Service license from the Luxembourgish regulator CSSF and some extra financing from its shareholders, amounting to EUR 20 million.

In 2020, the five Digicash apps were rebranded to Digicash by Payconiq, as the company made all its mobile solutions in the Benelux area interoperable. In 2021, the Digicash merchants have started migrating to the Payconiq platform.

Belgium
Payconiq Belgium and the Belgian payment system Bancontact announced in March 2018 their intention to merge. The merger was finalized in July 2018 and the company is currently named Bancontact Payconiq Company. The new company got a capital injection of €17,6 million from its five major shareholders Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, KBC and AXA. It then also merged its two existing payment apps called 'Payconiq' and 'Bancontact' into one app called 'Payconiq by Bancontact' which was supported by 20 Belgian banks and 290.000 stores in Belgium.

In 2019, the Payconiq payment solution was integrated in KBC's mobile bank app, followed by ING Belgium, in 2020.

The Netherlands
Payconiq Netherlands was established in 2018, when the Payconiq mobile payment app was launched into the market, having shareholders in the main Dutch banks: ASN Bank, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank and SNS. The service was discontinued on 1 January 2022 due to supporting banks choosing to focus their efforts on the competing IDEAL service.

System
The Payconiq platform connects banks, merchants, payment service providers and consumers, to enable Omni-channel payments online, in store, by invoice or peer-to-peer. It is an API-based platform, allowing for a fast connection and value-added services.

Consumers can download one of the stand-alone apps or use the Payconiq integration in their mobile banking apps (where available), according to their country of residence. They connect their bank account to the app and then are able to make payments to affiliated merchants by scanning a QR-code, or to friends (by e-mail address or cellphone number).

Acquisition by EPI
On 31 October 2023 the European Payments Initiative announced the closure of the acquisition of Payconiq International, as well as the dutch payment system Currence iDEAL, in line with its strategy of delivering a unified instant payment scheme for Europe.

EPI’s payment solution, empowered by Payconiq and iDEAL’s expertise, will incorporate a comprehensive range of use cases: person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-professional (P2Pro) payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. A wide range of transaction types will be supported, including one-off payments, subscriptions, installments, payments upon delivery and reservations.

Additionally, value-added services will be incorporated into the solution over time, including responsible ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ (BNPL) financing, digital identity features and integration of merchant loyalty programmes.

The deployment of the new digital wallet by EPI, Wero, is scheduled for 2024 in France, Germany and Belgium, followed by the Netherland and other European countries at a later stage.