Bezons, Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry announces that its subsidiary, equensWorldline SE, was selected by three major banks in the Netherlands as their infrastructure provider for Instant Payments. This collaboration facilitates the next step in the process of realizing a real-time payment system. In Europe, several preparations are being made for Instant Payments, but the pace and the method vary per country. The Netherlands is one of the first countries that started the development of these real-time payments.

equensWorldline will provide a new European and global payments infrastructure that allows payments to be processed instantly so that the recipient immediately receives the money. These real-time payments will be available around the clock, 365 days a year, including weekends and holidays. This means that it will always immediately be clear whether a transfer from the payer to the recipient has succeeded. That is beneficial to consumers who can immediately have their purchase, but also for merchants who receive the money instantly. Instant Payments therefore provide a better cash flow and reduced risk for businesses.

Payment services provider equensWorldline is on schedule to deliver the infrastructure for Instant Payments on time. "The program to deliver Instant Payments in the Netherlands is well underway, and with the choice of an infrastructure provider, the three major banks took a huge step," explains Alessandro Baroni, CMO equensWorldline. "At equensWorldline, we are ready. The development of the infrastructure is completed and the results of the tests we have performed to date are looking good."

The next step is to connect the three large Dutch banks to equensWorldline’s infrastructure. The projects to achieve this have been started and are progressing prosperously. According to the plans of the Dutch banking community, the first Instant Payments will be processed in 2019 when the full roll-out will take place so that real-time payments become a reality in the Netherlands.

Bart van de Sande, head of Operations Transaction Banking ABN AMRO: "The best seamless payment experience; that is what ABN AMRO wants to offer its customers. As we expect Instant Payments to become the 'new normal', we will deliver this new service as fast as possible. We are delighted that equensWorldline is one of our partners in realizing our ambition."

Roel Popping, Director Payments ING Nederland: "Instant Payments are the future in payments and ING wants to offer a superior solution to its customers. We selected equensWorldline because of their positive track record and flexibility in supporting the Dutch market."

“Real-time is the future of payments processing and we need to offer our customers superior solutions that keep us competitive with the new entrants in financial services,” said Erik Kwakkel, Executive Vice President Payment Services, Rabobank. “We selected equensWorldline because its solution offers the high performance and availability capabilities we seek, while it is cost efficient and also has the flexibility to support the requirements in the Dutch community”

Michael Steinbach, CEO of equensWorldline: “By expanding our portfolio with this complete Instant Payment service, we demonstrate our continued focus to cater for the full spectrum of our clients’ current and future needs. This seamlessly fits our European strategy, aimed at supporting our clients in the challenges they are facing in the rapidly developing European, and more and more, global payments market, in which responsiveness, customer value and the capability to innovate are of the essence.”