It’s just a blurry picture. But this picture, photographed during a lecture at the Payment Conference “ProfitCard 19” this week in Berlin, has it all. Because in the picture is clearly read: “Girocard digital in-App”. What does that mean? The German banks are planning – this was confirmed Finanz-Szene.de yesterday from circles of the banking industry – another online payment solution.
The piquant thing about it
Actually, it was the goal of the German banking industry to roll out the payment service Paydirekt, originally developed for classic online shopping, as an in-app solution for the smartphone. But if an in-app version is being built for the girocard – is that a vote of no confidence towards Paydirekt? In addition, further questions arise: Are the plans an attack on or an offer to Apple Pay? What do the dealers say? And, quite simply: how far has the project actually progressed?
What exactly is an in-app payment solution?
For example, if you are using the smartphone in the shopping app of Zalando, you can pay with the in-app solution from Paypal.
But can not I do that with the digital girocard too?
No. The digital girocard, on which the “VR Banking App” or the “mobile payment” app of the savings banks, for example, is based, only functions at the cash register in the in-store store, but not during mobile shopping. This will only be possible with the extension to in-app Girocard. Basically, there will be four variants of the girocard in the future: a) the classic version for the point of sale (POS); b) the NFC variant for the POS; c) the digital variant for mobile payment at the POS; and d) the in-app variant for smartphone shopping.
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In other words, in classic online shopping, I can not use Girocard in the future?
Technically conceivable is a lot. But in principle: no.
Is there any need for an in-app girocard?
The demand from the dealership is immense, according to circles in the German banking industry. Whether this is really true, we do not know – but which is undisputed: In their previous variants, the Girocard is a fast-growing product, despite all competition through, for example, the credit card schemes (see recently submitted by the BVR 2018 numbers to Girocard). And: The statutory fee limit of a maximum of 0.2 percent of the purchase sum would also apply to the in-app girocard. This would make the offer for dealers much cheaper than Paypal (and cheaper than Paydirekt).
But one must also say that despite great ambitions, banks have not been able to persuade a sufficient number of online retailers to integrate their mobile payment solution Paydirekt into the shops for years (because the competition from Paypal or above all the acceptance of Paypal is too strong for the customer). Whether this will be different with the in-app girocard remains to be seen.
Is the in-app girocard a supplement or a competitor to Paydirekt?
At least the plans suggest that Paydirekt did not prevail as an in-app solution.
Is the in-app girocard the “new paydirect”?
At the product level: Yes, one can say so. Finally, it is another attempt of the German banks, with an online payment method against Paypal to start. However, unlike Paydirekt, we do not expect a new venture to be established for in-app Girocard. Rather, the new product (like the other girocard variants) should be marketed via the already existing banking subsidiary “Euro Kartensysteme GmbH”.
Is the in-app Girocard in competition with Apple Pay?
Hard to say. Our reading is rather: The aim of the Volksbanks and savings banks has always been to introduce Apple Pay not only on a credit card basis, but also on a giro card basis. Now, however, show the initial successes, for example, the Deutsche Bank has celebrated with Apple Pay: Perhaps the pull of Apple Pay is so strong that the Americans are also pushing against savings banks and Volksbanken on a pure credit card solution. And maybe the in-app girocard would then be a way to signal to the Americans: We have here a technical solution through which Apple Pay and Girocard can be linked. But these are just speculations at the moment.
When will the in-app girocard be launched?
In the best-case scenario, it is to be heard, at least the Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks want to start in the fourth quarter of 2019 with the in-app Girocard. Whereby: The IT service providers of this world have, as everybody knows, busy at the moment. In this respect delays are not excluded.