JCB International Co., Ltd., the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., and Planet, a global integrated payments leader, announced the expansion of their European partnership.

This new deal ensures Planet will perform as a JCB acquirer across European territories for both face-to-face and ecommerce transactions, including JCB Contactless, with J/Secure(TM) 2.0-enabled ecommerce to be offered online in early 2022.

Planet provides integrated digital payment services on a unique single platform that offers acquiring, processing, digital wallets, VAT refund and currency conversion services to merchants in the retail, hospitality, food and beverage, parking, and financial sectors. As of today, Planet serves over 70 markets, having over 100 bank partners, and over 600,000 merchant partners.

With many of Planet's merchants in the hospitality, food, and beverage industries, JCB's 140 million cardmembers will benefit from being able to enjoy travel-related and everyday spending when travelling to Europe when travel restrictions lift.

JCB and Planet first entered into partnership in 2003 and have since expanded to cover multiple regions including across Europe, Middle East, and Asia.

Nick Fisher, General Manager, Sales and Marketing UK, JCB International (Europe) Ltd., said: "As long-standing partners of Planet, we are honoured to be invited to join its new growth journey to strengthen Planet's position as a competitive player in the European market. As Planet looks to grow its merchant base, it's important that we ensure our partnership grows to offer our cardmembers even more opportunities to spend in Europe."

Steve O'Donovan, Chief Payments Officer at Planet, said: "JCB has been a valued partner of ours for many years, connecting us with their 140 million global cardmembers who like to spend with our merchants. This new evolution of our partnership opens up even more opportunities for our merchants to accept payments and encourage spending."