Here is my firm prediction based on 23 seconds of detailed reflection. They should have forgotten about cards and gone for app implementing RTP, a pan-European iDEAL with knobs on. Competiing with cards in places where cards work well (ie, shops) is a waste of energy. Go after the places where cards are not optimal: mobile and online, person-to-person. In which case, what’s the point of using cards?
This reminds me of that time when Europe decided to implement the best possible offline payment system at the exact moment that the whole world was going online. Card fraud was UP again last year. The only solace for Europeans is that they’ve managed to send a lot of it to America (the US is a fifth of the volume but a third of the fraud).
Cards? What is the point? We’re not going contact-less, we are going contact-free! If you want to inspire European super-apps and super-ecosystems around them, then you need to give them a new plaform. Here’s my three point plan:
1. Digital identity (with privacy-enhancing architecture)
2. Digital currency (peer to peer, no clearing or settlement)
3. Request-to-pay (push payments only, no pull)
Snippings 