E-pay news GZS a Trintech customer
GZS Secures First Cross-Border Deal
European Card Review
Apr 26 2002 : German card processor, GZS, has
won a contract from Swiss card issuing
consortium, Viseca Card Services, in a deal with
a dual significance, according to the European
Card Review. The deal represents GZS`s first
international win, and is also "the first substantial
cross-border contract by any of Europe`s
interbank-owned processors". GZS, which is
owned by the German banking community,
supports 7 million credit cardholders in Germany,
and "now has a well-established dual processing
service" for Visa and Eurocard, after focusing on
Eurocards only.
The Viseca contract, effective from end-2003 for a
minimum of five years, will cover Eurocard and
Visa processing on behalf of its cardbase. Viseca,
which issues credit and charge cards for Swiss
banks other than Credit Suisse, UBS and
Postfinance, resulted in 1999 from the unbundling
of Europay Switzerland`s card operations. As the
ECR notes, the deal "follows extensive
discussions about a strategic alliance between
GZS and Payserv", the Swiss processor, and is
significant in that "GZS has ended up taking a
large slice of business away from the company
which, until recently, looked likely to become its
alliance partner".
From GZS`s viewpoint, "both cost per transaction
and service features were key elements of our
win", according to Laurenz Kohleppel, of GZS`s
management board. In 2000, Viseca took over the
majority of Europay Switzerland`s issuing
business, with the remainder going to Credit
Suisse and UBS. Viseca "is following the
example of UBS and Credit Suisse in taking its
credit card processing away from Payserv", and
looking to GZS, according to the ECR. Going
forward, Payserv "is likely to focus on [its PASS
acquiring business] and on mobile payment
initiatives".
"The aim of the proposed GZS/Payserv alliance
was to bring together GZS` issuing experience
with Payserv`s PASS platform", the ECR
continues, but Payserv`s board rejected the
alliance late last year, "mainly for governance
reasons". While GZS has "appeared vulnerable to
third party processors like First Data and TSYS,
… it has now beaten the third party providers to a
major cross-border contract". But, "as GZS
pursues more cross-border business", the ECR
warns, "questions may be asked about the
sustainability of its domestic interbank ownership
model".
Related Links
GZS Adds Module To PayWare Resolve AS
GZS Licenses Trintech`s PayWare Resolve