In Switzerland we have a thing called TWINT. It was bhllishly slow getting started, now it is ubiquitous with merchants and is a verb. Twinten is to send money.
Of course it makes the kids ever so quick to ask the 24 hour concierge service aka a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Mum & Dad if we could just “Twinten” them so money.
Revolut by the way uses merchant rails; we pay for 99.5% of everything here in South Africa with Revolut. Legacy EMV (Mastercard & Visa) rails.
They do the FX at far better rates than any of our Swiss banks.
We do a little bit of peer to peer on Revolut too.
BTW Revolut has some US heritage. Founder is ex Goldman.
Love the idea of Bizum! As I was reading this, I was thinking about Venmo, and was surprised to realize just how much I use it now. Can’t think of any businesses I visit that take it, but I have to think the first one to start will see a wave of customers using it- especially if the other option is to pay 3.5% more to use their Visa/MC/AMEX…
If what happens here works—and all signs point to that happening, in my opinion—it is going to be huge. Plus there's the digital euro, which is state-backed basically competitive.
I don’t think Bizum will have a huge effect on American banks because it’s not a credit card, it’s a debit card. People like to borrow on credit cards to buy things they can’t afford at the time.
Anything that reduces the transaction fee from 3% + is a good thing.
Also Bizum has fees of 0.9-1.34% per commercial transaction. But I see your point, the fees are less and are staying in Europe instead of going to American banks.
And this concept is happening worldwide. In Japan they have a similar system called PayPay as well.
For me I prefer to use credit cards because of all the points I collect that I use for travel. My recent flights to Japan were paid with points. They would have cost me several thousand USD otherwise.
Unfortunately Venmo is only free for personal transactions. Goods and services (business) transactions have fees of 1.9-2.29%. A little cheaper than credit cards but still a large fee.
We love using Bizum! Zelle and Venmo have too many fees and restrictions. PayPal isn't much better since they try to get you to use their credit account.
Bizum is handy for aiirline purchases, conert tickets,etc. I suupose so long as they keep it free for the consumer and cost effective for retailers, it should give the credit card companies serious competition.
In Switzerland we have a thing called TWINT. It was bhllishly slow getting started, now it is ubiquitous with merchants and is a verb. Twinten is to send money.
Of course it makes the kids ever so quick to ask the 24 hour concierge service aka a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Mum & Dad if we could just “Twinten” them so money.
Revolut by the way uses merchant rails; we pay for 99.5% of everything here in South Africa with Revolut. Legacy EMV (Mastercard & Visa) rails.
They do the FX at far better rates than any of our Swiss banks.
We do a little bit of peer to peer on Revolut too.
BTW Revolut has some US heritage. Founder is ex Goldman.
Love the idea of Bizum! As I was reading this, I was thinking about Venmo, and was surprised to realize just how much I use it now. Can’t think of any businesses I visit that take it, but I have to think the first one to start will see a wave of customers using it- especially if the other option is to pay 3.5% more to use their Visa/MC/AMEX…
If what happens here works—and all signs point to that happening, in my opinion—it is going to be huge. Plus there's the digital euro, which is state-backed basically competitive.
All of this is not good for the US.
I don’t think Bizum will have a huge effect on American banks because it’s not a credit card, it’s a debit card. People like to borrow on credit cards to buy things they can’t afford at the time.
Bizum and the larger payment rollout across the EU will have an effect on Visa and Mastercard. And Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Revolut, bunq, and Nubank will have an effect on US banks and Fintechs. Give it a couple of years.
Anything that reduces the transaction fee from 3% + is a good thing.
Also Bizum has fees of 0.9-1.34% per commercial transaction. But I see your point, the fees are less and are staying in Europe instead of going to American banks.
And this concept is happening worldwide. In Japan they have a similar system called PayPay as well.
For me I prefer to use credit cards because of all the points I collect that I use for travel. My recent flights to Japan were paid with points. They would have cost me several thousand USD otherwise.
Unfortunately Venmo is only free for personal transactions. Goods and services (business) transactions have fees of 1.9-2.29%. A little cheaper than credit cards but still a large fee.
Ah. I didn’t know that. Bummer!
I just got Bizum on my bank account here, but didn't know about the benefits you mentioned. Thanks
I think it's a slow rollout to both businesses and consumers. I don't have the pay at retail option yet either.
Nice meeting you and your husband in Granada this week!!
Yes it was nice connecting in person. Hope your visit was enjoyable
We love using Bizum! Zelle and Venmo have too many fees and restrictions. PayPal isn't much better since they try to get you to use their credit account.
Bizum is handy for aiirline purchases, conert tickets,etc. I suupose so long as they keep it free for the consumer and cost effective for retailers, it should give the credit card companies serious competition.
Bizum, its counterparts, AND the digital euro might be the biggest story in the United States that's not a story in the United States.