Payment transactions – Who benefits from the end of cash? -News

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Electronic payment transactions are becoming more and more dominant. However, it is often not clear how much fees shop owners have to pay for this.

Autor:
Serge Enderlin/RTS

Anne-Lise Noz feels helpless. She is the boss of a chocolate shop and president of the commercial association in Lausanne. And as such, feels unease in the industry. Because more and more customers only pay electronically, which entails additional costs for shop owners.

“If you sell a croissant for 1.80 francs, the commission is 65 cents per transaction and you still have to add 1.5 percent to the sales amount, there is no longer any profit possible with the product,” she says in the RTS broadcast Basik.

Caption: Anne-Lise Noz, head of a chocolate shop, feels helpless in the face of the commissions charged for digital payments. RTS

Likewise, part of the profit would be lost in an obscure way. Commissions and additional costs are clearly stated in the contracts that retailers conclude with electronic payment service providers. But: “When checking the statements, the actual deductions are difficult to measure because only the net sales are stated.”

Visa and Mastercard under observation

The Competition Commission (Comco) has had players in payment transactions in its sights for years. «Commissions are made up of two elements. The first commission is that which the merchant pays to the company that provides him with the card reader,” says Olivier Schaller, deputy director of Comco. “The second is the interchange fee that the merchant pays to the banks that issue the debit or credit cards used by customers.”

It is precisely this interchange fee that is analyzed by the Comco. It has opened two investigations in 2023 to determine how far the actors can go.

“We set the interchange fee, but we don’t earn anything from it,” says Santosh Ritter, head of Visa Switzerland. “For a transaction of 45 francs, for example, we charge a fee of around one centime. We are not involved in the commission between retailers and card reader providers.”

Worldline backs away

The world’s leading provider of card readers is the Paris-based company Worldline. The Swiss market leader for payment transactions Six is ​​one of its main shareholders.

Regarding the commission charged by Worldline, the director of Worldline Switzerland, Marc Schluep, says that “competition in the payments sector on the Swiss market is becoming increasingly intense. Therefore, I cannot confirm the amount of our commission.”

This lack of transparency also concerns politics. «I met with these actors. They say that they charge next to nothing and do their work for the benefit of companies and consumers,” says the Valais SP National Councilor Emmanuel Amoos. “But the reality looks different. Visa, Mastercard and Worldline have ultra-dominant positions in the industry.”

Amoos has submitted a parliamentary interpellation calling for more transparency from these companies.

New actors

At the same time, there are more and more players in the payments space. This is how the London start-up company Sumup is starting to make a name for itself in Europe. The price for its micro payment terminal is a one-time fee of 29 euros. The transaction fee in Switzerland is 1.5 percent and can drop to up to 0.99 percent depending on the contract.

Legend: The London start-up Sumup is starting to become known throughout Europe. RTS

In Switzerland, Sumup has already convinced 50,000 retailers and turned over two billion francs last year. In doing so, it is attacking Worldline’s quasi-monopoly in this country.

Looking beyond language boundaries

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This article first appeared in French and was translated by the “dialog” editorial team. You can view the original version at RTS read.

“Dialogue” is the SRG’s offering that uses debates and the exchange of content to build bridges between people in all language regions and Swiss people abroad.

Related

SQM Lithium Ventures, corporate venture capital of SQM Litio, in alliance with Endeavor, presented the ten selected startupsfrom among the more than 250 applicants from Chile and other countries, to be part of its third generation, GEN3from the Corporate Acceleration Program

The companies chosen in GEN3 propose innovative solutions to address challenges in the fields of lithium, water and electromobility, each receiving a contribution of US$ 25,000 from SQM Litio, added to strategic support for the definition and scaling of their businesses. .

In addition, they will be able to access subsequent financing through the SQM Lithium Ventures fund, in addition to other instances of economic and strategic support.

Those who will make up this third generation are Tech Binary (Chile), Enaxiom (Australia) and IX Water (United States) vertically agua; Magmatic (Austria), NIU NIU Resources Inc (Mexico), LIS (China), Neu Materials (Singapore) and BioMetallum (Argentina) for the sector Lithium next to RiDERGY GmbH (Germany) and ZeMaq Chile SpA (Chile) by electromovilidad.

“We are proud to have a new generation of entrepreneurs, whom we see as a complement to what we are creating, with very disruptive ideas that will help us understand new technologies and thus leverage their creations with our knowledge,” said Carlos Díaz, vice president. SQM Litio executive.

The rigorous evaluation process of GEN3 took place between the months of January and March and was carried out by the technical and commercial teams of SQM Litio and Endeavor.

“SQM Lithium Ventures joined a network where we work together to develop solutions to generate impact in the territory and achieve new open work models for innovation. Is about a very well evaluated ecosystem in Latin Americabut there is still work ahead to reach new communes and have an attraction around an entrepreneurial culture,” said Melissa Gajardo, executive director of the CORFO Antofagasta Committee who was present at the Kick off.

He added: “We are very excited about everything that will come with this new generation of entrepreneurs from the hand of SQM Lithium Ventures, we have no doubt that it will be an ivery positive impact for the entire country”.

This call was a space for collaboration between various actors of local and global entrepreneurship, bringing together from universities to networks of investors, large companies, collaborators, academics, students and schools, all of whom were called to contribute and inspire to contribute in three extremely urgent areas. .

This program seeks entrepreneurs from Chile and the world “whom we accompany in an acceleration program that allows them to identify strengths and weaknesses in technical and technological matters, as well as in the development of their business models. This is the starting point for four months of very intensive work with mentors from SQM Lithium Ventures and Endeavor where they will be able to access investment opportunities and eventually raise a first round of seed financing to scale their projects,” explained María de los Ángeles Romo, director of SQM Lithium Ventures.

Strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem

SQM Lithium Ventures is the corporate venture capital fund for SQM’s lithium business. The initiative was launched in December 2022 and its main objective is investing in companies in the growth stage that solve challenges related to lithium, water and electromobility.

The bottom invests in ventures and startups around the world. It also operates an Acceleration Program based in Antofagasta, for earlier stage startups within the same three verticals.

SQM Lithium Ventures has a global presence, with team members in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. After evaluating more than 500 ventures, to date has made three investments in leading companies in the three verticals, Salinity Solutions (UK), Altilium Clean Technology (UK) and Electric Era (USA).

In this way, SQM Litio seeks to bring risk capital closer to the technological businesses of the future and recognize the role of entrepreneurs and startups with projects that solve problems in the field of lithium, water and electromobility.

2024-04-24 15:28:24
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