equensWorldline, a subsidiary of Worldline [Euronext: WLN], European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, processes contactless payments that clients of the Belgian bank-insurer KBC^[1] can now execute via the first co-badged wearable in the world, which can be a watch, bracelet, key fob or ring. This means that users can easily make payments via multiple payment schemes with various types of devices.

KBC is the first bank-insurer in Belgium offering their customers payments via wearables.  equensWorldline processes the payments and manages the validation and routing of the transactions to KBC.

Most user-friendly way of paying

The system is set up in such a way that users can make both Maestro and Bancontact payments by linking their wearable to a co-badged^[2] debit card issued by KBC. When the wearable is linked, customers can leave their debit card at home. When making a payment, users do not have to choose between both payment schemes. This happens automatically, as is already the case with card payments. This makes it one of the most user-friendly ways of paying. 

KBC decided to offer client payments via wearables after its successful pilot in 2019, which involved 1,000 users. The majority of the participants responded positively and half of them said that ease of use was the main benefit.

Daniel Braeckman, General Manager BeLux at equensWorldline, underlines the importance of contactless payments: “We are proud of this milestone. Paying via wearables has not only become more popular due to the Covid-19 crisis, it has also become more important as it is enabling contactless payment, while improving customer experience. Contactless payments are the future and co-branding is a next important step in the evolution of this payment method. Customers are looking for user-friendly payment methods and co-badged wearable payments meet these requirements. We are pleased to be at the forefront of this innovation.”

Ivo De Meersman, Director of Payments & Cards KBC Belgium emphasises: "We are proud to be the first bank in Belgium to offer our customers this new and easy way of paying. It was a challenging project that could only be realised thanks to the good collaboration with equensWorldline, among others. Customers with a wearable can now pay for their purchases safely and conveniently in a very user-friendly and stylish way. Contactless payments have been on the rise since the corona crisis. Where previously one in five payments were made contactless, today we see that one in two customers pay contactless."