News from the Wire

Polish Local Payment Method BLIK Goes Global – PPRO Becomes First International Partner

Thursday, November 14, 2019 — 15:23:40 (EST)

Polish consumers are now able to shop and pay at more places online direct from their mobile phone via BLIK, thanks to a partnership between PPRO, the leading global payments platform, and the Polish Payment Standard (PPS), operator of BLIK. International retailers wanting to close sales with Polish customers can also receive payment simply and securely via BLIK.

PPRO is now a global direct processor and the first international partner for BLIK. This opens up acceptance for this popular local payment method across PPRO’s international acquirer and payment service provider network.

The partnership comes at a time when commerce is becoming increasingly cross-border. Customers are looking outside their home markets for a wider selection of goods and lower prices. 20% of B2C e-commerce will be cross-border by 2022, estimates research firm Forrester [1]. Yet while e-commerce is becoming more global, payment is becoming more local.

BLIK transactions are made bank account to bank account via a mobile front-end. Twelve participating banks and financial institutions have integrated BLIK into their mobile banking apps, which covers more than 90% of Polish bank customers. The strength of the proposition and support for this payment method locally means that BLIK transactions have almost trebled year-on-year.

“This co-operation is a milestone for us in publicising BLIK capabilities to online vendors internationally. The agreement with PPRO will enable many more acquirers to access this Polish payment method and extend it to their customers. Global payment operators have been showing increasing interest in BLIK for some while and we are convinced that our co-operation with PPRO will contribute to growing the e-commerce acceptance network,” said Monika Król, Vice President of the Management Board, Polish Payment Standard, the operator of BLIK.

BLIK offers real-time money on a mobile — a strong proposition of its time. Bank account-funded ‘push’ payments are popular in Western and Central Europe, where the percentage of banked adults (94%) [2] is much higher than the percentage of credit cardholders (45%) [3]. In Poland, bank transfer payment methods are particularly popular, accounting for 51% of payments online, compared to card payments at 20% [4].

“The growing popularity of ‘push’ payments is being driven by consumers wanting more control over their finances and privacy and merchants wanting to reduce the cost and risk of payment acceptance. As such, we are delighted to be the first international partner for BLIK. Integrating directly with BLIK will help make processes smoother for end-consumers and merchants, and help boost successful sales. Our partners are already looking forward to this long-term partnership as much as we are,” said Jack Ehlers, Director of Product, Payment Networks and Business Development at PPRO.

[1] Cross-border e-commerce will reach $627 billion by 2022’, Forrester go.forrester.com/press-newsroom/cross-border-ecommerce-will-reach-627-billion-by-2022/

[2] World Bank Findex data, 2017

[3] ‘Payments and e-commerce report: Western and Central Europe’, PPRO, October 2019

[4]‘Payments and e-commerce report: Western and Central Europe’, PPRO, October 2019

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Source: Company press release.