Curve Pay aims to become the leading alternative to Apple Pay in Europe

Following recent decisions by the European Commission, Apple has opened up access to its NFC chip, allowing competitors to seize this technological opportunity to offer their services on Apple devices. This is the case of Curve Pay, which will offer contactless payments via this technology. Curve aims to become the leading alternative to Apple Pay, and hopes to reduce transaction costs for banks and improve the payment experience for users.

FACTS

• Curve is a British fintech specializing in card aggregation. Its service enables users to link all their payment cards to a single Curve payment card.
• Today, it sees the forthcoming DMA compliance of Apple Pay in Europe as a new opportunity. While no precise timetable has yet been set, Curve believes it is ready to take advantage of the opening up of iPhones' NFC chip to third-party services.
• Curve will enable users to make contactless payments from an iPhone via its Curve Pay service (using a double-click on the phone's side button).

CHALLENGES

• Be the first alternative to Apple Pay: After being investigated by the European Commission for restricting access to its mobile payment system, Apple has granted competitors access to its Near Field Communication (NFC) chip. This enables applications like Curve to use NFC chips for their contactless payment systems, and thus position themselves as direct competitors to Apple Pay.
• Reduce transaction costs: Competition between Curve and Apple Pay aims to reduce transaction costs for banks and offer an enhanced payment experience for users. By launching its own service, Curve plans to eliminate these costs for banks.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Launched in 2015, Curve aims to enable users to aggregate payment and loyalty cards in a single app.
• The company's data shows that it currently has over 4 million customers, generating revenue primarily from card transactions, ATM withdrawals and foreign exchange and subscription services.