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Politecnico di Milano
Master of Management Engineering – Digital Business &
Market Innovation
Supervisor: Prof. Alessandro Perego
Assistant Supervisor: Ivano Asaro, Matteo Risi
Report of Ali Khosrojerdi - 876143
Academic Year 2019- 2020
Title:
“Analysis of the national digital payments ecosystem in Germany, Poland
and South Korea”
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Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to thank the Osservatorio of Mobile Payments & Commerce for providing
me the opportunity to grasp better the information needed and mentoring me in the path. I
am so thankful to them as I experienced a pleasant moment beside them in these months
researching, learning and exploring new fields of knowledges.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude, love and thanks to my family that
supported me every step of my way until this day today. I hope one day I would be able to
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Index
Executive Summary ... 10
Mobile payment Literature ... 10
Mobile Payment Models ... 11
Methodology and Results ... 14
Technological infrastructures and availability in the country among users ... 15
Governmental mindset and efforts ... 16
People behavior and cultural points of view ... 17
Conclusions ... 23
Abstract ... 25
1. Introduction to Mobile payment definitions ... 27
1.1. E-Commerce ... 27
1.2. Mobile Commerce ... 27
1.3. Digital Payment ... 27
1.4. Mobile Payment ... 27
2. Mobile Payments Infrastructural Background and History ... 28
2.1. The evolvement of telecommunication services over the last decade ... 28
2.2. Payments and Mobile Payments ... 30
2.2.1. Payments ... 31
2.2.2. Payment Costs ... 34
2.2.3. Mobile Payments ... 34
2.2.4. Mobile Payment Models ... 38
2.2.5. Mobile Payment Technology ... 43
2.2.6. Mobile Payment Processing ... 45
3. Methodology ... 49
3.1 . Technological infrastructures and availability ... 49
3.2. Governmental efforts ... 53
3.3 . Cultural point of view ... 54
Germany ... 54
Poland ... 57
South Korea ... 59
3.4. Local and international activities and competitors ... 61
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4.1. Germany ... 64
4.2. Poland ... 66
4.3. South Korea ... 69
4.3.1. Fintech In South Korea: Regulators Step in To Boost Innovation: ... 70
5. Conclusion ... 72
5.1. Limitations and obstacles ... 73
5.2. Further upcoming progress ... 73
8 List of Figures
Figure 1: The Purchase Process - functional components, simplified ... 31
Figure 2: Payment Order and Payment Transaction Semantics ... 32
Figure 3: Clearing House, Settlement and PSPs ... 33
Figure 4: Evolution of MP from Mobile Banking (Crowe M (2012)) ... 35
Figure 5: Mobile Payments Eco-system (Crowe M (2012)) ... 36
Figure 6: Bank-centric model - the bank owns and provides the entire service ... 39
Figure 7: Operator-centric model - the operator owns and provides the entire service ... 39
Figure 8: Collaborative Model - Banks and MNOs own and provide the service ... 40
Figure 9: Independent PSP (IPSP) model - The IPSP owns and operates the service ... 41
Figure 10: Main demographic and economic indicators of Italy, Germany, Poland and South Korea ... 49
Figure 11: Number of cards, POS and transactions with cards in Italy, Germany, Poland and South Korea. ... 50
Figure 12: Use of the internet and mobile devices in Italy, Germany, Poland and South Korea. ... 51
Figure 13: The <<Digital Money Index 2017>>. ... 52
Figure 14: Familiarity with and use of mobile payments ... 54
Figure 15: How many people in Germany use mobile payments... 55
Figure 16: Share of payment instruments broken down into various transaction amount categories. ... 55
Figure 17: Opinions on cash ... 56
Figure 18: Distribution of non-cash payments ... 57
Figure 19: Number of cashless transactions per capita / year ... 58
Figure 20: The question asked only to mobile device users about the use mobile device and mobile banking. .... 58
Figure 21: Daily average of payment card usage. (IC cash cards and debit cards. ... 59
Figure 22: Status of electronic banking usage (daily averages). ... 60
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Executive Summary
This study is provided to stablish a big picture of aspects influencing the Mobile Payment implementation
path in the 3 different countries such as: Governmental mindset and efforts, people behavior and cultural
points of view, technological infrastructures and availability among users, local and international
activities and competitors, etc. in Germany, Poland and South Korea, in order to implement or improve
them in Italy.
Mobile payment Literature
In the recent past, electronic devices have been used as a means of accessing banking services other than
withdrawals, which have become very popular. So, this kind of online access to banking services are
widely adopted by end users these days. Such services are referred to as Mobile Banking Services (MBS).
Initially, access to user account information was provided on its own, but subsequently, some banks
allowed mobile users to authorize money transfer. Such products are typically made accessible through
an application provided by the bank. The software runs on the mobile device and is regarded by the
banking system as a reliable customer. The availability of a reliable mobile service provider (MSP)
infrastructure and services made mobile banking services possible. The MSP provides its members with
Internet access, thereby allowing their family to engage in internet-accessible online services. The
transformation of e-commerce into mobile banking was made possible by the integration of
telecommunications and the Internet, the expansion of cellular telecommunications networks and mobile
devices and, subsequently, the development of financial institutions ' support for m-banking. The range
of mobile user services has now grown to include allowing purchase transactions. Users should be able
to make a transaction by using their mobile device (and not their physical wallet) to the vendor from
whom they have bought goods or a service. This form of payment is called Mobile Payments (MP). An
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are constantly evolving and rising in numbers. Payments made by a PSU using a mobile device such as
a mobile phone, smart phone or Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) are referred to as mobile payments. A
formal definition that has developed for mobile payments is "A mobile payment is any transaction that
uses a mobile device to initiate, approve and validate a value transfer in exchange for goods and services.
(Pousttchi, 2003; Au and Kauffman, 2008).”
Figure 1: Evolution of MP from Mobile Banking (Source: Crowe M (2012))
Mobile Payment Models
Banks and credit card companies operate traditional payment systems. Credit card services have
expanded to such a degree that this method of payment is used by a large number of payment services.
These services were delivered directly by banks and credit card companies. Through linking up with the
credit card companies, banks provide these services. Such companies have their own proprietary
networks to hold and interconnect payment traffic and share their network resources to provide payment
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Figure 2: Bank-centric model - the bank owns and provides the entire service,
Source: Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
Figure 3: Operator-centric model - the operator owns and provides the entire service,
Source: Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
There are four different models of mobile payment, depending on the players and their positions
in the provision of MP services which are mentioned below: (Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique
(2012))
• the bank centric model: a bank provides the MP functionality, manages the transactions and takes the financial risks (Fig. 2).
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• the operator centric model: similar to the bank centric model but with the operator in place of the bank (Fig. 3).
Figure 4: Collaborative Model - Banks and MNOs own and provide the service,
Source: Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
Figure 5: Independent PSP (IPSP) model - The IPSP owns and operates the service an provides a single access point to the user,
Source: Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
• the collaborative model: financial intermediaries and MNOs collaborate in providing the service functionality and share the financial risks. (Fig. 4) Explains a model of collaboration between
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respondents consider the cooperative design as having the greatest long-term dissemination
potential. (Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)).
• the Independent Payment service provider (IPSP) model: in this model (Fig. 5). A Smart Card Alliance investigation shows that a trusted third party is operating as an impartial and "positive"
broker between financial agents and operators. This model is related with Google or PayPal.
Methodology and Results
This paper studied the main aspects affecting the implementation path of Mobile Payments in the 3
countries: Germany, Poland and South Korea which are so tech-driven, having a high level of
infrastructures and technological availability among users. It has focused on the governmental treats and
the long term plan they have made in the past few years, the cultural behavior of people, their reactions
to the new upcoming technologies, their fears and insecurities, the level of technology and infrastructure
availability and the internal and external players who make differences in this area.
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Technological infrastructures and availability in the country among users
Figure 6: Electronic Payments,
Source: Eurostat. ECB. Bank of Korea (2018), Consumer barometer (2018)
Figure 7: Internet and mobile payments,
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Analyzing the situation regarding electronic payments, Italy is the best country in terms of acceptance
network (40,682 POS per million inhabitants, followed by Poland with 16,252). In terms of credit card
spread Germany is in first place (1.8 cards per person in Germany, 1.4 in Italy, and 1.9 in South Korea).
The number of transactions per person is Italy’s real sore spot. This indicator in South Korea is 8 times and Poland 2 times greater than Italy, and even Germany does better (372.9 in South Korea, 46.2 in Italy,
and 100.6 in Poland). South Korea generally shows greatest numbers compare to the 3 European
countries and stands on the top. (Eurostat. ECB. Bank of Korea (2018), Consumer barometer (2018))
Governmental mindset and efforts
Governments usually are using a slogan in order to do so and try to motivate people in becoming more
and more capable and willing to come into this area. There are several governmental campaigns and long
history of major actions in the country size. “Being easy and secure in payments” in Germany, “towards a «cashless society» in Poland and “towards a «Coin-less society»” in South Korea, are the main Governmental trends toward ease of the Mobile Payment usage.
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People behavior and cultural points of view
Germany:
Figure 8: share of payment instruments broken down into various transaction amount categories,
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Figure 9: Opinions on cash,
Source: Deutsche Bundesbank (2018)
Understanding from figure 8, until 100 Euros even in some extends to 500 Euros still the cash usage is
dominant among Germans and after that threshold Debit cards and Credit transfers emerge. Deutsche
Bundesbank (2017). Looking at figure 9 which is a result of a survey it is clearly illustrated the cultural
point of view focusing on the specific questions like the first, second and ninth, that German people are
consisting on cash so strongly which also makes it difficult to expand the Mobile Payments. Deutsche
19 Poland:
Figure 10: Distribution of noncash payments,
European Central Bank, (2015) statistics
According to figure 10, it is shown that Polish people are so willing in using the technologies and
non-cash payments specially when it comes to mobile phones. The mobile client is nowadays a common
phenomenon in Poland. One-third of the time spent on browsing the Internet comes from smartphones.
About 70% of Poles have phones with Internet access. This is the most personal device in history –
research on Android users showed that its average user touches the smartphone’s screen 2.5 thousand times a day. Poles do not only check mails and social networks on their phones but also want to have
access to wide range of financial services. Total Transaction Value in Polish “Digital Payments” segment is expected to amount to US$14,042m in 2018. Therefore, financial sector companies offer them ever
newer mobile solutions. Over 5 million customers of Polish banks actively use banking applications on
20 South Korea:
Figure 11: Status of electronic banking usage,
Bank of Korea (BOK) (2016)
As we see in the figure 11, People also in South Korea are strongly into use of digital payments and
electronic devices. They are also tired of using physical money in any cases. Only about 20 per cent of
payments are made using cash in South Korea. This story is part of a series of stories on cashless payment
systems in the region. In South Korea, cash is definitely not king as more people switch to using digital
wallets and mobile apps to pay for goods or services. Only about 20 per cent of all payments in the
country are made with cash – among the world’s lowest, according to the Bank of Korea. The wide range
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After a long time of research in Germany, the central bank decided to get into the Mobile Payment area
and try to full fil this gap by itself. According to the fact that Deutsche Bank is very popular and trustable
in Germany, people did trust its mobile payment solution easier than usual. From April 5, 2017 Deutsche
Bank lunched its mobile payment app which was the first bank in Germany doing so. In the next year it
has gotten the German Design Award Winner 2018 and finally, could put a trustable place among people.
In the next step, Deutsche Bank enabled the possibility for its customer to use Apple Pay simultaneously
which was made people so satisfied out of it.
How it works? When a customer activates a Mastercard for mobile payment, a copy of the card is
displayed in the app. In addition, the customer's smartphone stores ten unique numbers, or tokens, each
of which validates one payment. The App ensures users and merchants receive the same security,
guarantees and additional services for each Mastercard purchase a Deutsche Bank customer makes via a
smartphone as for every other Mastercard transaction.
In order to make a mobile payment the customer requires an NFC-enabled smartphone that runs on
Android 4.4 and above. The Deutsche Bank Mobile app must also be installed on the customer's
smartphone. In the app the customer selects the “mobile payment” function, accepts the conditions of
use, and confirms the intended Mastercard credit or debit card as the means of payment by entering a
one-time authorization number – only then is the function activated. Unlike other contactless payment
procedures, the in-app embedding of this mobile payment facility means that customers are not tied to a
specific network provider. In Germany the function will first be available exclusively to customers with
Android smartphones, which make up 75 percent of the market, according to Statista.
The development of cashless transactions is important for the Polish government. As evidenced in the
program of the Ministry of Digitalization "From paper to digital Poland”. The Polish non-cash payment landscape is clearly characterized using two payment instruments: credit transfers (45.6 percent of all
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cashless transactions) and cards (50.7 percent). The success of credit transfers in Poland is based on a
modern infrastructure – the Elixir system. This has guaranteed efficient, secure and relatively fast
interbank payments since 1996. Moreover, contactless card payments continue to become more popular
among Polish customers. there are plenty of digital payments as well as mobile payments are available
in the country for people. As an example of best practice, we can mention the BLIK which nearly 96
percent of people have access to it and its now available in 11 banks. BLIK is a mobile payment system,
created by Polish Payment Standard in order to allow millions of users to pay in
shops, payout cash in ATMs and make online purchases and payments. Putting all its advantages together,
Real time transaction confirmation, High conversion rates, Payment guaranteed, No chargebacks, Being
integrated with 90% of all Polish banks, Always having a need for a bank account to link with BLIK,
having the possibility to doing the refunds and being Very secure for merchants and consumers, are the
main reasons which has made BLIK the best practice in the country.
As part of the broader effort to increase the convenience of financial transactions and reduce social costs,
the BOK is promoting the emergence of a “coinless society.” The project aims to add to electronic payment instruments a function for depositing change or remitting it to accounts, thereby reducing the
circulation of coins and related costs. Furthermore, South Korea’s financial regulator is planning to
launch a regulatory sandbox to allow fintech startups to introduce new products and services without the
need to comply with existing regulations. The move is intended to boost fintech development and came
in response to criticism over the government’s so-called “restrictive fintech policies.” The best practice in South Korea is KaKao Pay. Kakao, the operator of the country’s leading messaging app KakaoTalk,
has also been making inroads into the fintech business. Its affiliate Kakao Pay is a payment system that’s built-in on the KakaoTalk messenger app to provide services such as peer-to-peer payments, paying bills,
membership benefits, and more. Last year, Kakao Pay rolled out a blockchain-based mobile
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mobile payment technology, Kakaopay has been ranked top in mobile convenient payment industry after
its launching. MPay is the only solution that has been approved its highest security level by Korean
Financial Supervisory Institute with patented Security & OTP technology. KakaoPay is now a standard
feature of KakaoTalk by embedding MPay module to KakaoTalk. So, every KakaoTalk user can use
KakaoPay without downloading additional apps. KakaoPay made complex online-to-offline payments
easier and more convenient in Korea. Once the credit card number is registered, the payment can be
completed just by typing the PIN code. With more than 8 million registrations since launching in
September 2014, KakaoPay has become the Number 1 simple mobile payment service in Korea.
Conclusions
There is a flow on the way to implement Mobile Payments, first the infrastructures and technologies must
be available in the country, then there is a strong cultural need which people want to accept it and above
all, there should be strict government plans and actions to shape and guide plans. As a matter of fact,
despite the old generations resistant of transferring from cash base to technological base ways of
payments, over the time, the new generations are becoming more and more eager trying new sort of
payments. There are different influential aspects in the way of transferring to digital payments especially
mobile payments, and the mains such as Culture, Government, Technology etc. But what is crystal clear
in this research, is that each of these 3 aspects have their own effect on the overall point of view which
should take into considerations. In the side of technology, there is crucial need to provide the needed
infrastructure, and in the other 2 sides there are some overlaps between people and government. Wrap it
all up, in order to improve Mobile Payment implementation in a country and being successful, it is crucial
to consider all the 3 essential sides of this Triangle, but at the top, Government plays a vital role, as it can
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and insecurities, it can also educate people and try to make them start using the technologies and different
payment methods, it sometimes even has the ability to force people to do what government decides so it
can accelerate the way on. Therefore, to achieve acceptable results, we need to improve all these 3 aspects
in Italy, recently in the tech and infrastructural parts there are some improvements taking part but in the
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Abstract
Day by day, the importance of the Mobile Payments is getting more and more significant. Although the
Cash is still the king of the payments, most of the countries around the world are moving toward the
cashless society by running lots of campaigns, joint ventures, government/banking collaborations etc.
The new generation is more comfortable with cashless transactions and as a result of being easier and
faster to run. Continuing the last reports, in the 2018 edition the Mobile Payment & Commerce
Observatory chose to focus research on three Countries: Germany, Poland, and South Korea. These
countries are some of the most tech-driven and digitized countries nowadays therefore are interesting to
explore them in terms of Mobile Payments & Commerce behaviors. In Germany, unlike it is assumed
that is a very technological country, in terms of payment methods they are one of the most cash lovers in
the world as in 2017, 74% of all transactions were made using banknotes and coins. Although many
people claim to be familiar with mobile payment methods, the actual number of people who use them is
still low. Looking deeply in the country it can be witnessed that in a vast majority of businesses and
places like restaurants, small shops etc. they do not accept anything but cash. Poland has a dual-facing
payment landscape. The first of which is traditional and characterized by a wide use of cash – such as
when paying out pensions to name one example. The other is remarkably innovative, making extensive
use of cashless payment instruments, particularly cards and credit transfers. The Polish payments
landscape encapsulates a number of cutting-edge payment trends, including instant payments, contactless
card payments and Person-to- Person (P2P) mobile payments.
In Korea the payment and settlement systems were for long heavily dependent on paper-based payment
instruments. This is attributable to individuals' traditionally strong preference for cash as a payment
instrument and the well-developed bill and cashier’s check system. Nevertheless, the use of
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such as Interbank Funds Transfer System and the Interbank CD/ATM System being established. The
spread of e-commerce transactions and introduction of Internet banking in recent years are accelerating
the movement toward a further diversification of the range of electronic payment and settlement systems
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1. Introduction to Mobile payment definitions
1.1. E-Commerce
E-commerce generally refers to using electronic means to buy and sell good, products or services through
the help of internet. To name a few, the most well-known online stores are Amazon, Flipkart, Shopify,
Myntra, Ebay, Quikr and Olx.
1.2. Mobile Commerce
Besides E-commerce, there’s more recent mobile commerce (m-commerce). This term refers to do
monetary transactions by the help of mobile telecommunications network (Nikhilesh Dholakia & Rask,
2004). Numerous types of actual good and services such as downloadable media files or use of the mobile
to pass in an airplane boarding can be done through use of mobiles.
1.3. Digital Payment
Any payment in which digital instruments are included generally and technically refer to digital
payments. In such payments, both of the parties, payer and payee, send and receive money by the use of
electronic modes.
1.4. Mobile Payment
Any transactions whose regulation takes place through the use of mobile device refer to mobile payments
(including mobile money transfers and mobile wallets). In this case, such transactions in mind will take
place digitally through the mobile payment instead of paying with the cheques, cash or physical credit
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2. Mobile Payments Infrastructural Background and History
Over the past decade, telecommunications providers have grown to provide data access services through
their networks mainly designed to deliver voice services. With this integration of voice and data services
across a single mobile network infrastructure, there has been a significant expansion of mobile data access
services over the past few years. These services were available using 3 G and 4 G network access
technologies as wireless broadband access. Due to the high demand for mobile data connectivity, mobile
network operators (MNOs) are in the process of increasing their data carrying capacity. The idea that the
client can be remote (i.e. phones that use wireless Internet access and can turn over wireless access
systems without interrupting the networks used by the user) allows them to access networked
infrastructure, everywhere, anywhere. Despite mobile phones transforming into smartphones and
smartphone proliferation expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent in 2012-2016
(Technavio 2012), MNOs are exploring various opportunities to increase revenue and provide a broader
portfolio of services. Considering the evolvement of mobile phones into smart phones and their
continuous proliferation, MNOs are trying their best to take advantage of this opportunity for increasing
the annual revenues and also providing a larger portfolio of services.
2.1. The evolvement of telecommunication services over the last decade
Currently, mobile devices such as smart phones, personal digital assistants, and tablets are growing. The
fall in prices of smart phones and the rapid technological progress of smart phones are key factors
contributing to this growth. Such devices have sufficient computer power, storage space and Internet
connectivity, mainly through Wireless Broadband (3 G, 4 G, WiMax, etc.) and Wireless LANs. End users
can do a variety of work through email, online video, audio, video and audio conferencing, online
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These tools have been used recently as a means to access other than withdrawals to banking services.
Such online access is widely accepted by end users and is very popular with banking services. Such
services are referred to as mobile banking systems. User account access information was provided only,
but money transfers to mobile users were allowed by some banks.
Typically, these services have been made available through a bank-distributed application. The app works
on a mobile device and is seen by the bank service as a trustworthy customer. Due to the availability of
robust mobile provider (MSP) infrastructure and services, mobile banking services were possible.
The MSP offers its members with Internet access, allowing their family to engage in Internet-accessible
online resources. The evolution of e-commerce into mobile-banking is facilitated by the convergence of
telecommunications and the web, the proliferation of mobile and mobile networks and, consequently, by
the development of financial institutions ' support to m-banking.
The range of mobile user products has now grown to include transaction transactions. By using his mobile
device (and not his actual wallet), the client should be able to pay the vendor from whom he or she has
bought goods or services. Payments of this kind are classified as Mobile Payments (MP). The end-users
use a mobile device to launch, authorize and validate them. Over recent years, MPs have continually
grown and increasingly expanded over numbers.
Gille 2005 lists the mobility attributes which characterize the move from electronic commerce to
m-commerce, and which affect payment providers ' service supply as users expect.
The attributes are:
1. Ubiquity - access to information and services independent of the current location and in real-time.
2. Reachability- When powered on mobile device is connected immediately to the network and
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3. Security – Besides partnering with trustworthy agencies, a new set of potential threats must be
tackled in the digital world.
4. Convenience – The convenience factor of mobile devices, such as phones, is higher and thus
m-commerce services are provided through the device
5. Personalization – Almost always, mobile devices are personal and not shared. It will benefit both
the user and the provider to provide personalized information and services.
6. Location Reference – The mobile payment systems are focused on these characteristics as well as on
the steering of unique data for authentication purposes. The value-added services (VAS) and product
differentiation is allowed by these attributes. Different attribute combinations provide location,
situation-based and personally situation-based services.
2.2. Payments and Mobile Payments
Payment is a part of the buying-and-buying process. Accordingly, the deal between buyer and seller is
part of the agreement / agreement. To return for the products provided as per the agreement, the contract
outlines the payment terms and the transaction is made by the purchaser to the seller. In Figure 1 the
functional components of a purchase process can be seen as simplified. The items shall be listed by the
dealer and the purchaser shall consent to acquire the products and supply them after payment has been
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Figure 1: The Purchase Process - functional components, simplified
2.2.1. Payments
Using Transaction Methods, transactions are carried out. In the case of a user of a financial institution
(banks, credit card providers, as generally known as payment service providers-PSPs, etc.) it is subscribed
to payment instruments (PIs). A PI provides for a Payment Transaction (PT) that is done as a Payment
Service (PS) offered by a PSP. The PT demonstrates the implementation cycle prior to the production of
the PS.
The definition of Payment Instrument by the Payments Council, UK (UKPC 2012) is as follows:
“payment instrument” means any: 1. personalized device; or
2. personalized set of procedures agreed between the payment service user and the payment service
provider, used by the payment service user in order to initiate a payment order.
External items such as cards and SIM cards were included in the word "phone." Later in the same year
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digit pass, login / password etc.), which the payment service provider can follow to provide a payment
transaction instruction, and which cover physical devices such as cards or mobile phones. It has also been
used to describe a number of procedures.
The transaction order (PO) offers guidance on a fee to the financial institution without being a payment
system. A payer or payee is asked to initiate a payment by the PSP. Payment initiators are provided with
sufficient resources in a value-18 payment initiator account for the payment transfers and all the
necessary information for the transactions is provided by a payment instructor. A PO can result in a PT
if all the terms of the contract (entre the payor / payer and the PSP as well as legislation on service
provision) are met. If the PO is not reached, it may be withheld. If all requirements are met, the client
may verify the transfer of interest to the payee from the account. The money transfer is then rendered by
the lender and the payer and payee's accounts are paid and debited. The PO results in a PT resulting in
the value transfer between accounts.
The interaction between Payment Service Users, the payer and the payees in connection with the payment
service is shown in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows. The payment transaction is initiated, and the payer permits
and confirms the value transfer application to PSP once the payer's PO is verified. The cost change is
shown in Figure 2 as the acts "Debit / Credit" and "Credit / Debits."
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For mobile payment, the connection front-end to a PSU, the paying entity, is the mobile device to connect
with the PSP. With the completion, approval and verification by PSP of the change of interest to another
PSU, the payee, the transaction phase is accomplished. The payer could use his or her preference as a
compensation tool unless the payer limits the option to the payer.
In the context that it does not imply a generalized condition, Figure 2 is a detailed example. For example,
both paid and paid are not required for payment services to be subscribed to the same PSP. You can
subscribe and still transact to different PSPs. In that case, the PSP of the payer and PSP of the payee will
use a separate entity called a Clearing House to pay the interacting PSPs. This mechanism of value
transfer via a clearing house through the PSPs is called an agreement. The method of arbitration is
performed in the consumer clearing house and ends in value transfer from a subscriber (payer) to a
subscriber of another PSP (payer). In the clearing house for potential arbitration and review all settlement
payments have been registered. Figure 3 demonstrates this practical structure.
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A PSU continues and finalizes compensation with a mobile device to another PSU. Every PSU has a
separate PSP subscription. The PSPs interact with the network through a cleaning house and execute the
value transfer Between Payments can be categorized in a number of parameters such as medium (cash,
paper, electronics), the size (micro payment or not), payment times (payment on time, post-payment,
prepaid payment) or purchase locations (real-world or online). These criteria can be used to distinguish
between different models of payment. The use of such a category we established and discussed later.
2.2.2. Payment Costs
The method of billing entails charges for the service providers ' organizations. The participating users,
payers and the payee have a fee for each part of the transaction. Charges typically comprise – Service
Access and Service costs – payment transaction components.
Access charges to the network include the payer and payee's access expenses. The PSU charges for
connectivity to the PSP network system. These are the costs involved. A bank or credit card company
typically maintains the proprietary network infrastructure and pays this portion for user authentication
and payment traffic. The cost of service includes the cost of the settlement process and the cost of the
inter-bank transactions. The PSUs recover these expenses. The payee shall bear the cost of the settlement.
2.2.3. Mobile Payments
Mobile payments are named Transactions done through a PSU via a mobile device like a laptop, a mobile
phone or a personal digital assistant. A formal definition for mobile payments that has been revised, is'
Mobile payments are a payment in which mobile devices are used to initiate, authorize, and confirm a
value transfer in exchange for goods and services ' (Poustchi, 2003; Au and Kauffman, 2008). Payments
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Figure 4: Evolution of MP from Mobile Banking (Source: Crowe M (2012))
Mobile Banking (MB) has evolved from MP. MB initially provided a user with access to banking
information and added a few banking transactions to their ability. MP has evolved due to two enablers–
the specific need for users to pay for merchants or end users who are with different bank / credit
institutions, as well as the arrival of contactless technology such as NFCs and RFID (table 1). NFC could
be controlled by various forms of points of sale (PoS): still, sales devices, etc. Digital PoS is built through
the ability of online shopping and payment using the mobile device.
Inclusion of new employees in the MP eco-system is the major shift in payments (Fig. 5). Mobile Network
Operator (MNO) is the main actor. The MNO offers the PSU-PSP connection and plays a major role in
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Table 1: Additional actors in the MP context (Crowe M (2012))
Figure 5: Mobile Payments Eco-system (source: Crowe M (2012))
The MP eco-system is very intricate. The system as a whole is driven by external versatility participants.
They are shown in Table 1. The eco-system and its various parts are illustrated in fig. 5. The service
provision and service delivery costs are affected by each component.
There are four main groups that provide and need to interact with the various elements of the MP service.
The MNO, the suppliers of mobile devices, the mobile app sellers and the service providers are all in one
category for the MP system (marked in orange). The community provides a basic mobile access network,
an end-user system and promotes the service technologies. Another category are the vendors, the FIs they
are members of, and the terminal manufacturer that provides the merchants with payment terminals (gray
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Each class offers the commercial service connectivity and system terminal specifications. The issuing
FIs, the payment processors, the broad network that connects several terminals for the provision of
payment services are in another group (marked in yellow). This group provides interconnections between
different payment processors, traders and customers and transaction service providers as well as value
transfers between the dealer and the customer. Eventually, the user communicates as part of the payment
service with all classes.
All of these groups affect the provision of MP services. Figure 4 provides a simplified view of the
connections and relationships between the different entities of the four above classes. In addition to the
value additions to the payment service provided by the PSP, it is expected to interact with all these groups.
The user device and its setup, the merchant’s terminal, the payment access method and the payment
process show clearly that the MP service depends on the following. These dependences interact with the
MP service. It is the bond between them.
In the MP context the MNO can play several roles. The primary role of the Internet access to mobile
devices is to provide basic facilities. The additional function consists of offering mobile access to
non-essential services-Voice and Internet access networks. The above is known as Mobile Value-Added
Products (MVAS). The primary objective of the MVAS is to raise overall the average income per user
(ARPU). The MNO usually invests in technology and the skills needed to maintain MVAS in order to
support MVAS. Mobile payments were among such MVAS.
A business judgment that is focused on the financial risk the MNO willing to take on a per-customer
basis is an important role that the MNO will perform in the sense of MP. This judgment requires the
MNO to be:
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b) a network access payment service company that sponsored MVAS services or products running the
network, which are typically quality add-ons, ring tones install, etc. This involves the purchase of MNO
products / services. The seller is the MNO. For these types of MVAS, user traffic on the MNO network
remains in the MNO network. Therefore, the cost consequences of this service are low.
c) the universal Payment Service Provider for its Network Customers, which is offered in partnership
with third parties for the purpose of acquiring services and products from any origin. Client traffic flows
from and into the MNO network for such MVAS. The price consequences are greater as other parties are
involved because application information is now being distributed through the MNO network to
secondary networks. The MNOs constitute an indissoluble part of the service in the sense of the MP.
Different business and operating structures of MP providers emerge from the role they expect to perform
in the payment services.
2.2.4. Mobile Payment Models
Banks and credit card companies are hosting traditional payment services. Credit card systems have so
proliferated that this method of payment is used by a significant proportion of payment services. Such
products have been provided directly by banks and credit card companies. Through connecting them to
credit card companies, banks offer these products. Such companies have their own proprietary transaction
flow networks, link and exchange network resources with payment services. They also have networks.
The third-party services provider MNO is included in the service provision in accordance to MP.
There are four different frameworks of mobile payment (Chaix, Laétitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)) based
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operator centric model (fig 7), the collaborative model (figure 8) and the independent service provider
(fig 9)
Figure 6: Bank-centric model - the bank owns and provides the entire service,
Source: Chaix, Laétitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
Figure 7: Operator-centric model - the operator owns and provides the entire service,
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Regarding collaborative model, financial intermediaries and MNOs operate together to improve the
quality of products and manage financial risks. Image. 8 shows a model of collaboration among banks
and MNOs. The Smart Card Alliance survey shows that 86% of the respondents find the cooperative
template to be with the highest potential for long-term expansion (Chaix, Laetitia; Torre, Dominique
(2012)). On the other hand, in case of the independent payment service provider (IPSP), this model(Fig.
9) is used as a third-party trust broker between financial agencies and users, autonomous and "positive."
Google or PayPal is related to this system.
Figure 8: Collaborative Model - Banks and MNOs own and provide the service,
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Figure 9: Independent PSP (IPSP) model - The IPSP owns and operates the service an provides
a single access point to the user,
Source: Chaix, Laétitia; Torre, Dominique (2012)
It was expected that a shared MP service delivery system will evolve in the industry involving banks,
MNOs and other third parties. But recent trends indicate that independent PSPs have emerged
successfully that provide end-users with an integrated payment system.
For a decade there have been online and wireless transactions. The adoption rate and the success rate
have varied. It did not grow west and is thought to slow down (Torre, Dominique, (2012); Chaix, Letitia,
2015).
The most important reasons for such slow down are as below:
• A comprehensive service orientation has not been used for the derivation of the service models based on technical basis or on an economic basis. (Pousttchi, K., Schiessler, M., & Wiedemann,
D. G. (2009). The resulting service offering is not appealing to the large user community. The
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1. Technical inability to converge to a solution to store sensitive mobile device data, i.e. the Secure
Element (SE). The judgment was between the implementation of the module as a protected chip (domain
of the OEM) and its implementation on the SIM card (domain of the Operator). Although the decision
favored SIM, both solutions are today available on the market and the stakeholders compete for the
market. This has obviously led to multiple solutions that are typically unique.
2. Economical–the various types of payment services, which are viable and developed but which have
economic viability, allow the players to operate together to provide the products. The main problem is
that newer models include the participation of a non-financial participant in the provision of services.
The banking and credit card industry earns around 25 to 30% of its payment services revenue (Carton et
al, 2012). New players with new payment methods on the payment services market suggest that such
income must be shared with their staff by those organizations. In addition to these revenues to provide
the RoI for employees, additional payment costs are charged for end users and sellers. As a result, end
users are given a costly and convenient service. The industry also seeks to establish a viable business
model of this kind. Consequently, large-scale MP systems were not implemented.
• The price transactions (payment) are split into two classes-low and high. The transactions of low value are greater in size than the transactions of high value, while the transaction value is
somewhat stable and relies on the instruments of payments.
The influx in MPs is certain if the low value fees can be shielded. The mobile payment transaction cost
should be sufficiently low to make both low value and high value transfers for both PSP and PSU
practicable. Different ways are emerging to accomplish this goal, including e-Wallet and e-currency. In
2008 the British Retail Association cited more innovation and implementation of innovations as being
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• Security and privacy–MP's safety have been discussed in several respects. Nonetheless, many implementations presume that mobile devices have a small computing power and storage space,
rendering the protection integration very complicated and time-consuming. Currently, smart
phones have many core processors and have access to large on-board memory and secondary
memory via SD cards.
2.2.5. Mobile Payment Technology
It was the only major mobile payment technology available in 2014 when Apple Pay first introduced on
the market (Ios, 2018). Google Pay, Microsoft Wallet, Walmart Pay, Kohl Pay and Samsung Pay joined
the market in 2015 and 2016 (Business Insider 2017). Their results are now available. In 2018 the volume
of Mobile Payments is projected to grow to $503 billion by 2020, as stated by Business Insider (2014).
Business Insider.
Near-field communication (NFC) payment software is used to pay without touch. Touch. To order to
read credit card information from a phone payer, NFC uses a mobile device and a transmitter for
transacting which generates an area of radio frequency (RF) (Business Insider, 2017). A user either (a)
installs the payment processing application to its mobile device or (b) accesses the system with an app
for contactless payment using a mobile device.
Users insert credit card details through their mobile device apps for Apple Pay for corresponding use.
Then, when you buy in a mobile paying store, users are a few inches away from the point of sale terminal
(POS) instead of collecting your wallet. Payment readers will automatically read and process the
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2017). The POS terminal emits a high-frequency radio wave that enables reader-mobile communication
(Apple 2018; Business Insider 2017).
For the Wireless Communication Protocol to 28, the mobile device should connect the terminal and the
mobile device in order to exchange and exchange information in a fraction of a second to conduct a secure
transaction (Apple 2018; Business Insider 2017). Business Insider (2017) has reported that in-store
mobile payment use levels are projected to increase by 80% annually from 2018 to 2020. This rapid
growth pace needs fixing mobile payment security concerns. Risk storage differences depend on the
payment system. Google Pay rarely sends information about credit or debit cards. Instead, Google Pay
uses tokens that represent card numbers for storage and payment (Datacap, 2017).
Apple Pay encrypts the app's data and transfers it to servers that decrypt payment network information.
Information is then encrypted again using a key that can only be unlocked by the card provider and issuer
(Apple, 2018). The bank sends information for the creation of an Apple device account number. The
phone number is not registered and thus not protected on a mobile device (Apple, 2018).
Mobile phone use habits often involve risks. Public Wi-Fi, hacking and phishing are the top 3 risks to
safety for mobile payment systems (Datacap 2017). Consumers must be mindful of where and how
phones are used. Most mobile payment systems are used as security frameworks to address risks linked
to the behavior, fingerprint authentication or PINs (Datacap, 2017). Notwithstanding protection
advancements, mobile payment software infrastructures need to be better, as poor safety expectations
have slowed adoption development (Business Insider, 2017).
In 2006, JCB Group, MasterCard and Visa Inc., Discover Financial Services and American Express set
up the PCI Council to resolve security concerns. The PCI Council has developed the Data Security
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businesses to evaluate the security practices, processes and instructions on payment cards. The PCI
Council frequently administers the PA-DSS, which discusses best practice in mobile payment systems.
More recently, EmaCo, a company specializing in facilitating safe payment transactions (PCI 2016),
cooperated with the Global Cyber Security Expert Council of the PCI Group. This partnership led to the
development of 3DS 2.0, which offers international transactions for various mobile-buying hardware and
software (PCI, 2016). Commercials have been worried about the rise and use of mobile payments on
mobile devices. The price of the equipment for smaller retailers was poor for remote point-of-sale systems
(Townsend, 2018). The PCI Council also developed a new PIN entry method, which enables online
companies to embrace mobile payments more easily through PIN entry directly on the smartphone
touchscreen (Townsend, 2018). Nevertheless, some questions are raised about certain safety standards
and the willingness of the PCI Council to implement the new guidelines (Townsend, 2018). The PCI
council has been invited to assist in the development of mobile payments standards by the The Accredited
Standards Committee X9 Inc. (PCI, 2016). Additional requirements are being established.
2.2.6. Mobile Payment Processing
87% of the world's population was using mobile telephones in 2013 and 35% were using the Internet by
2014 (Dastan & Gurler of 2016; Lowry, 2016). In 2016, 79% in the US used their personal devices for
shopping (De Kerviler, Demoulin & Zidda, 2016; Staykova & Damsgaard, 2016). Although the
proportion of smartphones users seems strong, researchers have estimated that only 15 percent regularly
utilize mobile payment processing technologies among customers who have used mobile 30 payment
options (De Kerviler et al., 2016).
Various authors have described mobile payments differently. Some scientists have made mobile
46
identified by other researchers with the same characteristics (Slade et al.,2015). According to the
academic literature, mobile payments have been rendered to mobile phones, tablets, palmtop computers,
near-field communications and recognition of radio-frequencies in order to send purchases, mobile cash,
money transfers, mobile wallet payouts, digital checks and credit cards.
The use of cellular phones is used to pay bills, pass money or buy goods or services (Oliveira, Thomas
and Baptista and Campos, 2016). Cellular transactions for a number of services. In the present study, the
Dennehy and Sammon (2015) concept was used as "a transfer of funds in exchange for goods or services
in which mobile phones were involved both in facilitating and verified transaction" in order to provide
coherence and to explain purpose. In fact, mobile payments can be made via a mobile phone as a web
browser support system, text message providers, mobile apps and communications technology in close
proximity.
A mobile phone is used to make mobile payments via a web browser to the website of a company, through
a browser application functionally identical with that used on a desktop or laptop (Lowry, 2016). The
SMS can also be used to send payments via mobile telephones, and, for various reasons, the US is more
common for text messages (Lowry, 2016). SMS is a short message system or text messages. In other
countries where it is not easy or even risky to bear money, text message payments for other purposes are
also popular (Lowry, 2016). When using this payment method, the user's mobile phone bill is charged
rather than debit, credit or b.
Mobile payments is facilitated by certain types of applications which are installed and enabled on a user's
phone. The applications securely save the user's payment information and use the information for
different types of payment at points of sale. In the use of this payment method, customers can use a point
of sale scanner either to check a bar code to their mobile devices and submit transaction or payment can
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payment technologies near fields, which support contactless payment systems, are the ultimate means of
payment. This method allows a user to wave a phone before the point-of-sale chip reader, and payments
are made without a credit card or check to be provided physically by the user. Wireless short-range
technology is close communication (Saarisalo, 2016).
It allows shopkeepers to pay for on-sale shopping with an iPhone or Apple Watch (Apple 2015; Morosan
& DeFranco 2016). Apple pay was released in 2014. Next to the payment reader, users hold their device
to begin paying. For online shopping Apple Pay can also be designed without the use of the near-field
communications technology. The client credit card or bank account information is held in the mobile
payment app32 and only shows in the software that the user is payed when the consumer accesses a
payment site. Apple stores and encrypts all payment information on Apple's databases (Apple, 2015).
Apple Pay has stayed nearly 10 million annually since 2014 after adoptive rates (Pymnts, 2018). The
adoption rate was 12.8 percent from March 2016 to December 2017, not perceived to be significant in
the sector (Pymnts, 2018).
The 2015 launch of Google Pay, which is also named Android Pay (Falk et al., 2016). Google Pay allows
mobile phone or computer payments. Google Pay also allows money to be transferred between persons
who have established a Google Wallet account. Google Pay accounts are connected to bank accounts or
debit cards for customers. Google's Pay stores user data on secure servers, encrypts the full credit / debit
card number on the application using secure SSL technology (Google, 2018). Google Pay often allows
users to create a data pin number. to comply with the U.S. regulations The rules of Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation, certain payments, allow users to enter their identity information (Google, 2018).
Google Pay acceptance rates have risen to 5.3 million and are considered negligible (Pymnt, 2018). Less
than 1 per cent of people use Google Pay for shopping in Google Pay shops were recorded in Pymnts
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3. Methodology
This paper has done a comprehensive research on the different aspects of mobile payment subject in 3
countries and then try to compare them with Italy situation and achieve some valuable and yet applicable
results. The aspects are shown below as: Governmental mindset and efforts, people behavior and cultural
points of view, technological infrastructures and availability in the country among users, local and
international activities and competitors, etc. I have provided in detail for each country separated.
3.1. Technological infrastructures and availability
First of all, I provided a general point of view on the 4 country to make a big picture of the situation in
terms of Demographics, Electronic Payments and Digital Environment.
Figure 10: Main demographic and economic indicators of Italy, Germany, Poland and South Korea,
Source: World Bank Data (2018)
The aim is to take a closer look at the international development of Mobile Payment & Commerce, with
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take. In particular, it has been decided to focus research on Germany, Poland and South Korea, countries
that are very different from each other also from Italy but represent interesting benchmarks to look to as
regards the development of Mobile Payment & Commerce and of digital payments in general.
Germany and Italy are most similar ones to each other in terms of GDP and GNI Per Capita rhythm and
cultural behavior towards spread of electronic payments. However, as regards Mobile Payments, new
generation in both countries are eager to have Digital and Mobile Payments spread over the country.
Regarding the usage of cash Poland is in line with Italy and Germany although Polish people has the
courage toward the non-cash methods more than the other two. World Bank Data (2018)
In South Korea unlike the other 3 countries, Cards are the king not the cash. People in South Korea are
widely stick to the usage of new technologies and non-cash methods.
Figure 11: Number of cards, POS and transactions with cards in Italy, Germany, Poland South Korea.
Source: World Bank Data (2018)
Analyzing the situation regarding electronic payments, Italy is the best country in terms of acceptance
network (40,682 POS per million inhabitants, followed by Poland with 16,252). In terms of credit card
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The number of transactions per person is Italy’s real sore spot. This indicator in South Korea is 8 times and Poland 2 times greater than Italy, and even Germany does better (372.9 in South Korea, 46.2 in Italy,
and 100.6 in Poland). (Eurostat. ECB. Bank of Korea (2018)) South Korea generally shows greatest numbers compare to the 3 European countries and stands on the top. Because no signature or PIN
verification is typically required, contactless purchases are typically limited to a set maximum amount
per transaction, known as a floor limit which is 25€ for Italy and Germany and 50PLN for Poland.
Figure 12: Use of the internet and mobile devices in Italy, Germany, Poland and South Korea.
Source: Consumer Barometer (2018)
In terms of Internet and Mobile technology usage, again there is huge distance between the
Europeans and the South Korea Italy, Germany and Poland are somehow the same in the
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regarding Mobile Internet users, with Italy, Germany and Poland respectively at 81%, 65%
and 58% while South Korea is 93% being at the top. Consumer Barometer (2018)
Figure 13: The <<Digital Money Index 2017>>,
Source: CITI group (2018)
The Digital Money Index is calculated every year by Citi Group, it monitors the degree of “readiness” of 90 Countries of using electronic currency. The index calculation is based on four dimensions: the
existence of favorable institutional conditions, the availability of financial and ICT infrastructure, the
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Based on these categories, the 90 Countries have been divided in four groups: Incipient, Emerging, In
Transition, Materially Ready.
Of the countries analyzed in this report, Germany and South Korea appear in the “Materially Ready” (in 11th, 17th place) among the countries that are already familiar with digital payment forms which are
encouraged by the environment, while Italy and Poland rank among the countries currently “In
Transition” (respectively at the 35th and 34th position of this category). CITI group (2018)
The winners’ podium for this classification goes to Singapore, United States, and Finland.
3.2. Governmental efforts
After illustrating all those technical and infrastructural information, we need to take a look at an
influential aspect like Governmental efforts. According to data available on Central Banks in all those 3
countries like BOK for Korea, Deutsche Bank in Germany and Narodowy Bank Polski in Poland, each
government has its own rationales and path to this major. They usually are using a slogan in order to do
so and try to motivate people in becoming more and more capable and willing to come into this area.
There are several governmental campaigns and long history of major actions in the country size. “Being easy and secure in payments” in Germany, “towards a «cashless society» in Poland and “towards a «Coin-less society»” in South Korea, are the main Governmental trends toward ease of the Mobile Payment
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3.3. Cultural point of view
• The next parameter is the cultural point of view and the reactions and willingness of people when it comes to Mobile Payments. As we know, important issues of using digital payments always have been the security, having trustable sources, ease of use, user friendliness, less expensive, availability etc. over the time coming from the educations and cultural behaviors it has been shaped and plays a crucial role in this area. Below it is provided some cultural information.
•
Germany
Figure 14: Familiarity with and use of mobile payments,
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Figure 15: How many people in Germany use mobile payments,
Source: Deutsche Bundesbank (2019)
Figure 16: Share of payment instruments broken down into various transaction amount categories.,
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Figure 17: Opinions on cash,
Source: Deutsche Bundesbank (2018)
As it is clear in the figure 14, until 2017 a huge amount of people has never even heard of Mobile
Payments or if they have, they do not use them, though very small amount of people is using them.
Deutsche Bundesbank (2017). By the big picture coming from figure 15, even in 2019 there are still a
few numbers of Germans using mobile payment which is less than 10% of the population. Deutsche
Bundesbank (2019). Understanding from figure 16, until 100 Euros even in some extends to 500 Euros
still the cash usage is dominant among Germans and after that threshold Debit cards and Credit transfers
emerge. Deutsche Bundesbank (2017). Looking at figure 17 which is a result of a survey it is clearly
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that German people are consisting on cash so strongly which also makes it difficult to expand the Mobile
Payments. Deutsche Bundesbank (2018).
Poland
Figure 18: Distribution of non-cash payments,
Source: European Central Bank, (2015) statistics
According to figure 17, 18 and 19, it is shown that Polish people are so willing in using the technologies
and non-cash payments specially when it comes to mobile phones. The mobile client is nowadays a
common phenomenon in Poland. One-third of the time spent on browsing the Internet comes from
smartphones. About 70% of Poles have phones with Internet access. This is the most personal device in
history – research on Android users showed that its average user touches the smartphone’s screen 2.5
thousand times a day. Poles do not only check mails and social networks on their phones but also want
to have access to wide range of financial services. Total Transaction Value in Polish “Digital Payments” segment is expected to amount to US$14,042m in 2018. Therefore, financial sector companies offer them
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ever newer mobile solutions. Over 5 million customers of Polish banks actively use banking applications
on their smartphones, while 9 million have it on their devices. European Central Bank, (2015) statistics
Figure 19: Number of cashless transactions per capita / year,
Source: European Central Bank, (2015) statistics
Figure 20: The question asked only to mobile device users about the use mobile device and mobile banking.,
59 South Korea
Figure 21: Daily average of payment card usage. (IC cash cards and debit cards.),
Source: Bank of Korea (BOK) (2016)
As we see in the figure 20 and 21, People also in South Korea are strongly into use of digital payments
and electronic devices. They are also tired of using physical money in any cases. Only about 20 per cent
of payments are made using cash in South Korea. This story is part of a series of stories on cashless
payment systems in the region. In South Korea, cash is definitely not king as more people switch to using
digital wallets and mobile apps to pay for goods or services. Only about 20 per cent of all payments in
the country are made with cash – among the world’s lowest, according to the Bank of Korea. The wide
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Figure 22: Status of electronic banking usage (daily averages),
Source: Bank of Korea (BOK) (2016)
Figure 23: Payment shares portions by different authorities,
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3.4. Local and international activities and competitors
Last parameter is local and international activities and competitors. Inside each country there are some
available Mobile Payment options but in Germany there is only one local Mobile Payment which has
been provided by the Deutsche Bank as a result of the cultural insecure feelings which people rarely
trust other sources not being governmental. Besides that, as international players, we can see Google Pay
and recently even Apply Pay provided by Deutsche Bank. Apart from the Germany in other 2 countries
there are a lot of local competitors as I list them below.
When it comes to Poland, Payments are the second field of investment in FinTech industry in terms of
financing, following loans & credits. According to Accenture, it gained 29% of all investments in the
financial-technology sector between 2010 and 2016.
In Poland, you can find a large number of innovative solutions implemented by banks and FinTech. There
is a developed payment infrastructure, too. This is a good starting point for growth in the segment. The
biggest players in this category include:
❖ Billon - designs and develops a digital cash solution for mobile phones and computers ❖ BillTech - powers single bill payment site
❖ Blik - popular payment, withdrawal and transfer mobile platform
❖ Blue Media - major player offering express money transfers, payments, online authorization ❖ CallPay - disrupts mobile payment sector
