EMI: Tunz.com Becomes a Member of the AFEPAME
- As a provider of payment and e-money services, Tunz.com aims to support the development of electronic money services in France, by providing its know-how and innovative expertise in the field of electronic banking.
- Jan Van Wijnendaele, Managing Director of Tunz.com explains how Tunz is now focusing on ensuring that e- and m-commerce are made easier and more reliable both for the retailers and consumers alike.
- Tunz was founded in 2007 in Belgium and the company's current shareholder base is made up of its founders (60%) and the leading telecoms operator Belgacom (40%). In its role as an EMI, Tunz can benefit from its European status to provide services in all European Union countries.
- Tunz currently offers an array of services that were developed in house or in collaboration with its partners in the mobile payment, cards, prepaid services and wallets markets. The company already has agreements with a number of French companies including Limonetik, Bankeez and even Leetchi. They use Tunz's EMI licence to commercialise their prepaid card and grouped payment services.
Source: Press release
- This type of operation again highlights how open the market is. Non banking sector players of French or foreign origin are arriving with new innovative solutions that offer a broader, more diverse range of services.
- You may remember that there are six member States that have still not entirely implemented the second e-money directive (Directive 2009/110/CE known as the "2EMD"): Belgium, Spain, France, Cyprus, Poland and Portugal. Belgium is expected to decide very soon, whereas the outlook of a French decision remains quite meek. This is further proof that the Europe of payments is still to be harmonised.
- The French Association of Payments and E-money Institutions (AFEPAME) groups together licensed French EMIs and PIs or institutions with operations in France. Its aim is to promote its members' activities by highlighting the specific nature of their status to the different market regulators.
- Finally, some players believe that failure to implement the 2EMD in France will lead to unfair competition between the countries and considerably slow down the take-off of prepaid e-money solutions.