iDEAL Payments System Reports Continued Growth
The online payment system iDEAL continued to enjoy strong growth in 2013 with a 21% rise in transactions to a total value of €10.8bn according to its Dutch parent group Currence.
Currence added that consumers with a Dutch bank account chose iDEAL to pay for purchases over 142m times, with growth helped by the continuing increase in online shopping. “In addition, people are increasingly using iDEAL for transactions outside the tradition e-commerce sector, such as donations to charities and to pay subscriptions and invoices,” it reported.
The group also said that specialised payment institutions, known as collecting payment service providers (CPSPs), are increasingly active on markets outside of the Netherlands. The number of certified CPSPs increased to 46 last year, from 37 in 2012.
“The importance of CPSPs for the iDEAL market is further evidenced by their activities in foreign markets,” said Currence. “More than three quarters of all CPSPs (35 of the 46) offer iDEAL to foreign online businesses. In 2013, there was a strong trend towards internationalisation among CPSPs.
“Existing CPSPs started focusing more on international markets and new licensees mostly have an international focus. iDEAL is accepted in 65 countries (to a greater or lesser degree). In 2013, consumers with Dutch bank accounts used iDEAL to make 28m payments to foreign websites (20% of all payments). This reflects an increase of two percentage points relative to 2012.”
Last year also saw iDEAL prepared for the transition to the single euro payments area (SEPA), using the SEPA credit transfer (SCT) as a basis.
“This offers opportunities not just for payment institutions but also for foreign banks to use iDEAL to establish a strong position in their local online payment market, but certainly also beyond, for their customers’ cross-border payments,” commented Currence.