French payments technology company Worldline has expanded its partnership with Germany-based commercial banking company Commerzbank.
The expanded partnership enables Commerzbank to allow its customers in Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK to send and receive transfers in euros in real-time.
It also enables the partners to process instant payments in Swiss francs in Switzerland.
Worldline’s scalable Payments Back-Office processing platform, which was previously integrated into Commerzbank’s banking systems, will process the Instant payments.
The instant payments in Swiss francs build on a decision by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in June 2021, which mandates financial institutions to accept such payments.
From August 2024, the largest Swiss banks, including Commerzbank with an annual transaction volume crossing 500 million, must process instant payments.
Worldline has a network-free solution that is used as a SWIFT Service Bureau.
Commerzbank will also use the same solution to connect to the new SIC 5 system for Swiss Instant Payment Clearing.
Commerzbank divisional board member and Corporate Clients CIO Sebastian Kauck said: “The expansion of our existing business relationship with Worldline will help us to better support our Swiss customers and implement the upcoming requirements in the Swiss instant payment sector.
“The Swiss market is an important focus for Commerzbank. As we expand our offering across Europe, we are pleased to have Worldline as a reliable partner at our side.”
Worldline financial services head Alessandro Baroni said: “With our international expertise and industry-leading solutions, we enable Commerzbank to offer instant payments in numerous European countries. This next step in our partnership showcases Worldline’s role as the ideal partner for banks worldwide.”
Recently, French banking company Crédit Agricole has acquired a 7% minority interest in Worldline, building upon an existing strategic partnership announced last year.
In July last year, Worldline and Crédit Agricole signed a binding agreement for the strategic partnership to create a major player in the French payment market.
