Switzerland’s SIX Group and Swisscom target retail payments via mobile app Paymit
SIX and Swisscom are targeting Swiss mobile commerce
Swiss exchange group SIX and Swiss telecoms company Swisscom are planning to create a Switzerland-wide, universal mobile payment solution in collaboration with banks. The plan encompasses shopping as well as peer-to-peer payments.
In May, SIX and Swiss banks UBS and Zürcher Kantonalbank took the first step, when they launched Paymit, an app that allows customers to send and receive money via their smartphones. But the partners now plan to expand it so that customers will be able to use the app to make cashless payments in stores or online.
The amount is booked in real time via the app and the registered account or credit card. In the future, Paymit will offer additional services such as loyalty point schemes or the creation of individually tailored offers for customers. The first special offers are scheduled for release at the beginning of 2016.
SIX and Swisscom said their aim is to develop “state-of-the-art services to transform the customer shopping experience”.
For SIX and the participating banks, such as UBS, Zürcher Kantonalbank, Banque Cantonale de Genève, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Luzerner Kantonalbank and Raiffeisen, the main benefit of the planned collaboration with Swisscom is that Paymit will spread more rapidly in the Swiss market.
“We believe in the Swiss financial centre and want to create a Swiss solution that can act as a counterweight to international players,” said Urs Schaeppi, chief executive at Swisscom. “By quickly establishing the app in the market and providing a customer interaction solution, Paymit will become an even more attractive option for businesses and customers alike.”
“We are confident that the partnership between SIX and Swisscom will help establish Paymit as a mobile payment solution,” added Urs Rüegsegger, chief executive at SIX Group. “The key objective for SIX is that all Paymit users and the participating banks benefit equally,”
Swisscom says it plans to press ahead with the development of supplementary services focused on the shopping experience. The idea is that customers will be able to collect loyalty points for their purchases that they can then use for their next shopping trip, and retail companies will be able to provide their customers with information on products and special offers.
“Digitisation opens up numerous opportunities to improve the customers’ shopping experience,” said Schaeppi. “And thanks to Paymit, it will be even easier for businesses to take advantage of these new possibilities.”
