EAPS unites independent European card schemes, banks, acquirers and payment institutions throughout Europe to create a single card payment framework. The alliance enables debit cardholders in one European country to use their domestically issued cards for ATM and POS transactions in other European countries, delivering mutually advantageous cross-border connections.
The volume of transactions in 2010 reached two million (1,957,000) compared to 942,000 transactions in 2009. The success of the framework can be attributed to optimising existing payment infrastructures in Europe, low scheme fees and no cost for brand usage.
Peter Blasche, the Chairman of the EAPS Board, comments: “We are delighted to report that transaction figures have more than doubled in the last year. This important milestone demonstrates that EAPS delivers a European alternative to the global payment systems. There are two key factors which have been instrumental to EAPS’ appeal. Firstly, it is governed by European players that are focused on European issues, such as compliance to the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA). Secondly, the network is built on existing payment infrastructures which makes EAPS commercially attractive by providing increased market reach without additional infrastructure investment.”
Looking to the future, Blasche highlights that the alliance will continue to support increasing transaction volumes: “In the coming year EAPS is investing resources to progress and finalise more partnerships and implementations between existing participants to allow them to expand into new geographical markets. In addition to this, we continue to reach out to the marketplace and encourage new partners to join us. We welcome all card schemes, banks and payment institutions that are compliant with European requirements and the SEPA Cards Framework of the European Payments Council.”