The banking groups have publicised plans to jointly acquire payments processing technology for card holders and merchants.

BPCE and BNP Paribas this week announced their strategic partnership project to address the unprecedented development of payment infrastructures and its future prospects. Acquiring joint technology would result in the creation of a common processor that would handle all card payments of both institutions. With 17 billion transactions shared between the two organisations, this processor would be the leader in France and would rank among the top three in Europe.

The joint processor would be able to address the most prevalent challenges in the market, e.g., acceleration of mobile payments, expansion of e-commerce, demand for immediacy, as well as the innovations brought about by domestic and international schemes.

Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, director and CEO of BNP Paribas, comments: “Payment systems are an essential component of the bank’s relationship with its customers, and we must ensure they adhere to the highest possible standards. Given that the increase in card transactions is exponential, our ambition for this processor, is to create a device that is efficient and scalable across all our European locations.”

Nicolas Namias, CEO of BPCE, adds: “The first generation of our collaboration in payments with BNP Paribas was a great success. With this new industrial partnership project, in line with our next strategic plan, we are taking an important step towards accelerating innovation in payments in the coming years.”