German Bank Executive Pushes for Payment Processing Transformation

For some time now, payment processing for FX brokers has been a real challenge. Within these retail FX businesses, the ability to securely process client payments to and from brokerages is key. This business area, however, experiences a constriction of available options due to the monopoly on payment processing services by firms like Visa and Mastercard.

For years, these dominant firms have thought little of retail FX businesses not based in the US, UK or Australia. Considering that the ability to receive deposits from traders and pay withdrawals is a key operational factor for most of these businesses, this limited access to services has made it very difficult for brokers.

Recent reports say that things might be on track for positive changes. Early April 2019, a Deutsche Bundesbank executive called on the banking sector to develop a pan-European mobile payments platform; this platform would be capable of competing with systems from Big Tech giants from the U.S. and China.

In an interview with Bundesbank board member Burkhard Balz, first published in Handelsblatt and reprinted on the central bank’s main website, Balz commented: “Here in Europe, we need to prevent a situation from arising in which American and Chinese payment systems are all we have left to choose between. Highly successful firms from the United States and China are looking to carve out a huge chunk of the European market. Hence the desire to forge a payments solution with a clear-cut European ‘brand’”.

“Chinese and US players are also saying that a race is under way here in Europe in which market domination is probably up for grabs. If you ask me, Europe needs to get off the sidelines and take a stance,” Balz went on to say.

To achieve this, Balz says the core EU markets of Germany, France, Spain and Italy must come together and create and establish a pan-European platform. Balz’ position is being supported by voices from the European Central Bank in the payment cards market. Many in the industry are concerned about the efforts of U.S. big tech firms like Apple and Google and Chinese firms like Alibaba and TenCent, as they push to establish their systems as the dominant platforms throughout the world.

The hope is that banks will continue to look at the payments sector seriously and offer a solution to brokers that will genuinely lead to a FX industry breakthrough. In the meantime, many businesses are turning to alternative providers for their payment processing needs. Those in need of safe payment processing can find a long list of reviews – like rms retail merchant services reviews – for top providers via the experts at Best Payment Providers.

Author Bio:Payment industry expert Taylor Cole is a passionate merchant account expert who understands the complicated world of accepting credit and debit cards at your business. His understanding of the industry and rms retail merchant services reviews has helped thousands of business owners save money and time.