ConCardis Press releases

ConCardis GmbH, one of the leading service providers in the field of cashless payment, can look back at a successful financial year. The joint venture of the German banking industry increased its transaction revenue from € 19.0 billion (of which € 0.8 billion was Maestro revenue) in 2008 to € 20.4 billion (of which € 1.3 billion was Maestro revenue) in 2009, posting an increase of 7.4 percent. Sales revenue climbed from € 278.2 million in 2008 to € 293.6 million in 2009, which corresponds to a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent.

“We are particularly proud that ConCardis concluded financial year 2009 on such a positive note despite all the economic adversities. This stable and profitable growth enables us to invest in developing innovative products and sector solutions,” said Manfred Krüger, CEO of ConCardis GmbH.
 
Expansion of product and service range
Last year, the company focused particularly on e-commerce and mail order activities. Expanding the “ConCardis PayEngine” e-payment solution enables merchants in this segment to offer more than 30 current payment procedures. “E-commerce is a core market for us because it is not yet saturated,” explained Rainer Sureth, Managing Director of Marketing and Sales at ConCardis GmbH.

In the field of card acceptance, ConCardis has added Asia’s most important payment cards – China UnionPay and JCB – to its product portfolio: “This lets us address the increasing number of visitors who are Asian tourists and business travellers, enabling our merchants to tap this fast growing customer segment,” said Sureth. The hotel chain Neue Dorint GmbH has already recognized the advantages and with support from ConCardis GmbH has introduced acceptance of China UnionPay across Germany.

Security was top priority in the entire payment sector in 2009. In order to support this, ConCardis implemented the Internet platform www.pciplatform.concardis.com, so that merchants that accept, process, store or forward card data can obtain certification and check their PCI compliance.

ConCardis becomes a payment institution
With the implementation of the Payment Services Surveillance Act(Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz – ZAG) for payment activities, all payment service providers are subject to the same supervisory requirements. As a leading acquirer, ConCardis has applied for authorisation as a payment institution under the new law. Once authorised it will be subject to supervision by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFIN). This step will make pan-European acquiring, which is increasingly being expanded, easier for ConCardis. After successfully establishing itself in Switzerland and in Austria, ConCardis now offers merchants, businesses and service providers in the Benelux countries a comprehensive product and service portfolio. The offering of cross-border support to German customers is increasingly valued.

Outlook 2010
New technologies that make payment even easier and faster are the future trend. This includes contactless payment, in particular. ConCardis will continue to advance this issue in 2010 and was the first German acquirer to already gain major-scale acceptance with the launch of MasterCard PayPass and Maestro PayPass at ORLEN Deutschland GmbH “star” petrol stations. “However, in order for this payment method to be accepted as a standard method on the German mass market, it must be interesting for merchants. One prerequisite to this happening is a considerable rise in the number of cards issued with a contactless payment function,” explained Manfred Krüger. “On the other hand, we would also like to support merchants that implement individual solutions. We are well equipped, at any rate, and have the technical infrastructure required for PayPass acceptance in our portfolio.”

The company expects further development in the debit card area. “We can look back to a very successful Maestro business in the past year. We are now interested in seeing whether V PAY will follow suit,” noted Rainer Sureth. Visa Europe initiated an extensive card issue of ten million cards in Germany in autumn 2009.

ConCardis also focuses on individual offerings for specific sectors. For example, together with MICROS Fidelio it developed the new payment solution “ConCardis Payment Gateway” for the hotel and system catering sector. The EMV-compatible, high-performance terminal meets the PA DSS safety standards and has an interface for integrated cash register systems. This enables card transaction data to be directly transferred and bundled for data analytics, thus simplifying processes and analyses. Moreover, this terminal is equipped with multilingual operation, processes a variety of currencies and also has a range of additional features, enabling its use Europe-wide.

“During the current financial year, we have once again set an important trend for the future,” summed up Manfred Krüger. “ConCardis has a healthy financial basis and successful international commitments as well as innovative products and services – key requirements for being a front-runner again in 2010, in this very dynamic market."