M-payment Processing: iZettle Arrives in the United Kingdom and Accepts American Express Cards
- iZettle’s card reader and application can turn an iPhone or iPad into a POS terminal and now allows users to accept American Express cards in Sweden and Finland, alongside MasterCard, Visa and Diners Club cards.
- The Swedish start-up is now offering a beta version in the United Kingdom involving 3,000 retailers and private individuals for detailed analysis before roll out on a national scale. The system accepts MasterCard, American Express and Diners Club cards, but not Visa.
- These announcements accompany a modification in commission rates that are now in line with those charged by Square: the fixed amount commission has been removed and a variable commission of 2.75% will continue to be charged (with 2.95% for American Express in the United Kingdom).
Source: Press release by iZettle
- EMV approved and PCI-DSS compliant, iZettle now has plans to conquer the European market by meeting the needs of small retailers and mobile businesses before the potential arrival of Square and their magnetic stripe card system. Launched in August 2011 in Sweden, the start-up already has operations in five different countries. The founder of the company also underlines his interest in the Canadian market where smart cards are also largely used.
- 50,000 users have signed up for the app in Scandinavia, thus increasing the number of payment terminals by 10% in these countries. iZettle estimates that up to 20 million retailers in Europe cannot currently accept card payments.
- The card reader is supplied for free and iZettle has signed a number of partnership agreements with telecom operators in Sweden to distribute their reader with their boxes.