Computop is the first German payment services provider (PSP) to offer UK and EU retailers a certified point of sale (POS) solution based on P2PE encryption. P2PE stands for Payment Card Industry Point-to-Point Encryption and is an industry security standard developed by MasterCard and Visa to curb increasing theft and misuse of credit card data.  It protects consumers and merchants from fraud.

The new standard ensures that credit card data is heavily encrypted during data transmission from the POS terminal to the payment service provider. Computop uses a new ‘key’ to encrypt each payment asynchronously so that the card data is absolutely secure as it passes through digital networks.

In addition to security, there are also financial benefits for retailers.  In using P2PE POS terminals, retailers can dispense with the man-hours and costs invested in performing PCI security audits, which would otherwise be compulsory. Depending on the size of the company, this generates savings for merchants of between 50,000 and 1 million Euros per year.

Unlike standard POS terminals which follow national standards, Computop’s P2PE POS solutions know no national boundaries. International merchants can replace the various POS terminals in their foreign branches with Computop’s P2PE POS terminals. Worldwide standardisation reduces the merchant’s IT expenditure and the investment in training for checkout staff. Last but not least, P2PE is also mandatory for new technologies such as mobile POS terminals which are connected to tablets.

P2PE certification was conducted by Adsigo AG, which has more than 40 years of experience and has performed 500 assessments in the payment card industry.

“We are very proud that Computop is the first German payment service provider to be able to offer merchants in the UK and Europe P2PE POS terminals. With this P2PE solution, Computop protects customers’ credit card data and generates cost and time savings for retail,” said Ralf Gladis, founder and CEO of Computop. “Normally, a merchant has to undergo an extensive and costly PCI certification process. Computop’s P2PE-certified POS solutions remove the merchant's network from the scope of PCI compliance because communication is strongly encrypted. The extra security not only protects the customer’s data but also the merchant’s brand.”