This bilateral cooperation expands the potential customer base of giropay and eps, makes the online payment processes more customerfriendly and encourages competition between European payment providers. In implementing this interoperability, giropay GmbH and STUZZA Ges.m.b.H., the operator of eps Online-Überweisung, are also following through on the original efforts of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Payments Council (EPC) and proactively implementing the goal of enabling secure cross-border electronic payments by online transfer, starting at a two-country level in the first step.

The integration of the two payment methods enables online-shops to target a total of up to 40 million online banking customers in Germany and Austria.
giropay and eps can now be offered and used cross-nationally via a shared interface. giropay and eps are currently in the rollout process, which will be
completed in autumn 2014. Bilateral alliance takes proactive approach to interoperability With the interoperability of their two systems, giropay and eps are implementing the efforts of the ECB, the European Commission and the EPC, which have long been calling for a European solution for online transfers. But instead of establishing a completely new, standardised EU payment method, giropay and eps have chosen to integrate their systems.
The first step has now been completed with the bilateral agreement and technical implementation.

The interface created for the cross-border operation of the systems is available to other European online banking based e-payment methods as well as giropay and eps. “We want to go beyond our bilateral cooperation with eps to add other e-payment methods and thereby implement the original plans of the ECB and the EPC to enable online transfers throughout Europe,” explains Joerg Schwitalla, Managing Director of giropay GmbH. Robert Reiger, Managing Director of STUZZA Ges.m.b.H., adds: “Roughly half of online orders in Austria are placed abroad. The interoperability of our payment systems allows our customers to pay in their familiar online banking environment when ordering from German providers, too. We can therefore compete more strongly with other international payment processes, which benefits customers and traders alike.”

You can also find this report at www.giropay.de.

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Stefanie Thieme
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