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Belgium 2026

Market Overview
Payment Organisations Bancontact Payconiq Company.
Domestic Payment Brands Bancontact debit cards, mostly co-badged Maestro.

Bancontact Payconiq, the Belgian mobile payment app.
Market Structure In March 2018, the domestic card scheme Bancontact merged with the mobile payment app operator, Payconiq.

From 2011, most Belgian banks restrict the use of the Maestro function on Bancontact cards to Europe (geo-blocking).

Debit cards dominate the market, accounting for 90.82% of card payments in 2024. Credit card use is under-developed.

In January 2020, Belgium’s big 4 banks (Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC) joined forces to set up an integrated shared network of bank-neutral ATMs, Batopin.

KBC Bank Group has developed a substantial retail banking network in the CEE region, which is currently being formed by member banks in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Belfius Bank (previously Dexia Bank) is state-owned.

Emerging Open Banking ecosystem.
Notable Market Trends Contactless Bancontact rollout, Bancontact Payconiq app, Mybank, HCE NFC card payments, Open Banking payments.

Due to the lingering effects of the pandemic, there was a 27.3% rise in remote payments and a 16.8% jump in cross-border card payments.
Major Card Issuers BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius Bank, KBC and ING Belgium.
Major Card Acquirers Worldline, EMS, Europabank and EMS(NL).
Major Card Processors Worldline, Nexi (SIA).
Key Statistics 2024
Population 11.85 million, with 3.21 bank cards per capita.
Cards Debit: 25.82 million

Credit/Delayed debit: 5.98 million

Total payment cards: 38.07 million
Card Payments Debit: 3.60 billion; value €141.47 billion

Credit/Delayed debit: 294.35 million; value €23.25 billion

Total 3.97 billion; value €168.06 billion
POS Terminals 265,838
POS Payments All cards: 2.34 billion; value €85.84 billion
ATMs 3,637
ATM Withdrawals All cards: 129.29 million; value €25.83 billion
Digital A2A Payments Credit Transfers: 2,076.9 million; Value: €8,676.6 billion

Direct Debits: 550.5 million; Value: €182.2 billion
Note. NBB restated figures from 2014, aligning its statistical reporting to the new ECB statistics standard.

Note: Italic forecast figures for 2025F are estimated in the payment market context based on 2024 figures.
Source: ECB, National Bank of Belgium (NBB).

Introduction – Payments in Belgium

Belgium is a federal parliamentary democracy and is one of the six founding countries of the European Union and the euro zone.

Belgium’s payment market is characterised by a mature card infrastructure and high levels of card penetration and usage, with debit card usage in particular growing strongly in recent years, thanks to the popularity of the Bancontact domestic scheme. The merger of Bancontact and mobile payment service Payconiq has accelerated mobile payment usage in Belgium, with both contactless card and smartphone transactions rising sharply amid 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic.

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, and disruptive technologies have set the stage for digital payments for the digital economy in Belgium. They have accelerated digital payment transformation and mobile payment services, as well as cardless IBAN-based payments directly from bank accounts.

In the last decade, Belgian consumers have embraced mobile devices such as tablets, smartphones, and Internet of Things (IoT). This change significantly impacts their shopping experience. Consumers have become increasingly connected and they have started to purchase anywhere, at any time, from any device.

In addition, new consumer demands are a game changer. Belgian consumers like digital banking apps with access to all their accounts at different banks in one single app, with the option to make payments directly from their bank account of choice. Additionally, they appreciate more banking services and payment services added to their mobile banking app. Consumer adoption of digital payments in Belgium is driven by minimal cost, secure payments, and a high level of user convenience.

Driven by the development of social media and mobile devices, the emergence of permanently connected consumers has impacted their interactions with brands but also their expectations of how to shop using the increasing number of touch points between consumers and merchants, e.g.:

The ongoing rollout of a mature online and mobile communication infrastructure is an enabler for digital card payment transformation and for Open Banking payments in Belgium.

In a few years from now, mobile banking apps and mobile payment apps are expected to combine account management, digital payment services, personal finance management and value-added digital services from location finders to digital vouchers.

Cash payments, card payments and cardless payments directly from bank accounts (A2A payments) remain all relevant for Belgian merchants and are heavily used by Belgian consumers.

This country profile provides an introduction into two competing payment ecosystems in Belgium:

Legal Framework for Payment Services

The legal framework for European payment services is a joint project undertaken by the European Commission as the regulator, the European Central Bank (ECB) as the Euro System, and the European Payments Council (EPC) with the objective of standardising payments in Europe and to remove existing barriers, promote cross-border competition between payment services, strengthen the European internal market and drive the digital payment transformation.

Based on its vision, the EU Commission has therefore created a unique legal framework for cashless B2C and B2B payments that supersedes pre-existing national legislation and is binding for financial service providers and payment service providers throughout the EU.

Belgium has largely transposed this legal framework into their national payment legislation.

Historically, there has been a de facto national regulation of all Belgian payment schemes with high technical barriers to ensure and defend payment security.

With the implementation of the payment services directive, all payment services in Belgium are based on the unique legal framework for payment services of the European Commission effective in the European Economic Area (EEA).

In addition, the respective rules and regulations of the domestic card scheme and the international card schemes continue to be applied by the card payment service providers (e.g. EMV, PCI, RTS SCA, and SEPA Cards Framework), respectively.

Legal Framework relevant for Payment Services in Belgium

The revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, had established a legal and regulatory framework for payment services providers, enforcing several protections for their clients such as safeguarding of funds; and required them to execute processes in accordance with banking regulations, such as KYC and AML. It has already resulted in significant progress regarding the integration of the European retail payments markets.

Following the alignment with the EEA region, the legal framework for payment services in Belgium includes the directives and regulations of the European Commission (EC), the ECB, and/or the national central bank (NCB) of the individual country.

All card payment service providers and all cardless payment service providers of the Open Banking payment ecosystem must apply for the European legal framework including:

Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
PSD2 is the key directive for borderless banking and payment services in Europe.
Among others, PSD2 regulates digital payment services and payment service providers such as payment institutions, e-money institutions, payment initiation service providers and account information service providers. PSD2 formulates the Open Banking Mandate for regulated access to payment accounts.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – effective from May 2018
GDPR establishes a regulatory framework for customer control of their data through consent mechanisms, the right to be forgotten and the right to retrieve all personal data for re-use at other service providers of choice, thereby preventing a ‘lock-in’ situation.

E-Money Directive (EMD)
The EMD sets out the rules on the business and supervision of e-money institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD)
The AMLD6 aims to improve the harmonisation of the criminal liability of money laundering and terrorist financing across the EU27.

Customer Rights Directive (CRD)
CRD gives consumers the same strong rights across the EU. It aligns and harmonises national consumer rules, for example on the information consumers need to be given before they purchase something, and their right to cancel online purchases, wherever they shop in the EU.

EU Price Regulation for cross-border payments
In 2001, Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, followed in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 924/2009, fixed uniform underlying conditions for processing cross-border payments in euro, and the fees for intra-EU cross-border payments in euro were aligned with those for domestic payments in euro.

SEPA End-Date Regulation
SEPA payment instruments replaced domestic A2A payment instrument formats for euro payments.

Card Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR)
The IFR caps interchange fees for payments with consumer cards, effective from 9 December 2015. It increases transparency on fees thus permitting retailers to know the level of fees paid when accepting cards.

Domestic bank service laws
Complementary to EC directives and EC regulations.

Characteristics of the PSD2 Outlook: PSD3 and PSR

The adoption of PSD2 has formalised the relationship between banks and trusted payment providers (TPPs) by establishing the Open Banking Mandate providing open access to customer account data and the payments infrastructure. This is expected to stimulate the FinTech market to develop new integrated services models for both consumer and business customers.

This regulation is a reaction to the growing demand from customers as mobile and internet applications have become widely adopted, driving expectations in how services should be delivered across all industries. Other market segments have adopted Open Banking APIs to respond to this demand and shown that innovative applications can grow business and change customer behaviour.

PSD2 has a significant impact on the European payments industry. According to the EC, the revised Payment Services Directive brings several new important elements and improvements to the EU payment market e.g.:

In 2022, the regulator started a PSD2 review process, which will end up in a revised PSD2 dubbed PSD3. While consultations are currently ongoing, the revisions are expected to address the achievements of the PSD2 and evaluate the need for a revised standard.

Proposed EC Revisions to the EU Payment Services Regulation – PSD3 and PSR 

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) published its proposed revisions to EU payment services legislation, as well as a proposal on Open Finance/data access in the financial services sector beyond Open Banking/payment accounts in the form of a new Open Finance framework called “FIDA”.

Essentially, the EC is proposing that PSD2 would be split into two different instruments. These will ensure consumers can continue to make electronic payments and transactions safely and securely in the EU, domestically or cross-border, in euro and non-euro. Whilst safeguarding their rights, it also aims to provide greater choice of payment service providers on the market:

The objective of the regulation is to enhance harmonisation of the rules and enforcement across the various EU Member States. In addition, the EC proposed to merge the E-Money Directive (EMD2) with the proposed PSD3 and PSR texts, so as to have one coherent regime for both payment services and e-money services, and thereby ensure a level-playing field between PIs and EMIs.

PSD3 also amends the Settlement Finality Directive (SFD) in order to allow non-bank PSPs (e.g. PIs and EMIs) to participate directly in SFD-designated payment systems. Fintechs will be given access to all EU payment systems, with appropriate safeguards, and giving them a right to have a bank account. That way, those non-bank PSPs would no longer need to rely on banks in order to execute payment transactions.

A system to check IBANs and a platform to enable payment service providers to share fraud-related information are two proposals around consumer protection, including an extension to all credit transfers of IBAN/name-matching verification services. These have been proposed by the Commission for instant payments in Euro. All consumers should benefit from them, for both regular and instant credit transfers.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) is given once again a number of mandates under PSD3 and the PSR to prepare draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and draft implementing technical standards (ITS), ultimately to be adopted by the EC, as well as guidelines, and to continue maintaining the register.

In 2024, significant progress was made in updating PSD2. In April 2024, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposals for PSD3 and PSR at first reading. While the exact timelines for enforcement are not yet confirmed, it is anticipated that the finalised versions of PSD3 and PSR may become available by late 2024 or early 2025.

In 2025, the EU made substantial progress toward finalising PSD3 and PSR, marking the next major phase in the evolution of Europe’s payment services framework. In June 2025, the Council of the EU reached agreement on compromise texts for both legislative instruments, subsequently endorsed by COREPER (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), enabling the start of trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the European Commission.

These negotiations aim to align positions on key issues, including liability for payment fraud, direct access of non-bank payment service providers to payment systems, and strengthened consumer protection. Final adoption and publication of the legislative package are expected by late 2025, after which the PSR will apply directly across all EU Member States, while PSD3 will require national transposition within approximately 12–18 months. This means the new framework could come into practical effect during 2026–2027.

The 2025 developments reaffirm the EU’s objective to harmonise payment regulation, enhance security and consumer rights, and create a more competitive and innovative payments landscape across the single market.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a legal framework that sets guidelines for the collection and processing of personal information from individuals who live in the European Union (EU). Since the Regulation applies regardless of where websites are based, it must be heeded by all sites that attract European visitors, even if they don’t specifically market goods or services to EU residents.

Adopted in April 2016, the Regulation came into full effect in May 2018, after a two-year transition period. The GDPR replaces the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and is designed to:

The GDPR mandates that EU visitors to all websites must be given a number of data disclosures. Sites must also take steps to facilitate such EU consumer rights as timely notification in the event of personal data being breached (breach notification). Among others, the GDPR mandates the user’s right to access their data and the right to be forgotten. In addition, the conditions for consent have been strengthened, and companies are no longer able to use long, illegible terms and conditions full of legalese. Also, it must be as easy to withdraw consent as it is to give it.

eIDAS Regulation and Digital ID Trends

The electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services regulation (eIDAS) is a set of EU standards and regulations for electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the European Single Market. It was established in the EU Regulation as of 23 July 2014, relating to electronic identification, and repeals directive 1999/93/EC from December 1999. It entered into force on 17 September 2014 and applies from 1 July 2016 except for certain articles, listed under its article 52.

In June 2021, the European Commission proposed an update to eIDAS that will enable every European to have a set of digital identity credentials recognised anywhere in the EU. In May 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183 entered into force, formally establishing the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet under the revised eIDAS 2.0 framework. The regulation requires all EU Member States to provide at least one interoperable digital identity wallet within 24 months of the adoption of the implementing acts, placing the expected rollout across the EU by late 2026.

Throughout 2025, the European Commission has continued to issue implementing regulations defining the wallet’s technical architecture, certification procedures, and security requirements. The framework embeds privacy-by-design, data minimisation, and user consent principles, ensuring data remains under user control and stored locally on the user’s device.

Pilot projects launched between 2023 and 2025 have been finalising testing across Member States to validate interoperability, usability, and cross-border functionality. From 2026 onward, public and private entities that require strong electronic identification will be expected to recognise and accept the EUDI Wallet for secure authentication and digital transactions across the EU.

Many digital ID schemes operate based on super-secure passwords and/or mobile apps confirmed by a second factor, either passwords or one-time token or biometric factors such as fingerprints.

Digital ID in Europe has been proliferating rapidly in recent years. To date, both the nature of these schemes and their application have varied widely – for example, BankIDs in the Nordics being used to support instant payments and the delivery of harmonised government services.

eID platform initiative – In May 2017, a group of European companies including banks, vehicle manufacturers, and technology providers signed a “corresponding declaration of intent” to establish a joint, pan-industry platform that will let their customers use a so-called “master key” for registration and identification when accessing online services across a range of sectors including government, aviation and retail.

Biometric Authentication Services

As a form of digital identity, biometric factors have been gaining ground across Europe in recent years, especially since the EU mandated their use for national ID cards and passports from August 2021.

In the payments industry, European banks and other account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) have started to support new biometrics technology companies that will develop client identification and authentication systems. They will be dedicated to the research and development of software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or fingerprint reading.

With the EU regulator’s decision to mandate Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) as part of the revised payment services directive, PSD2, biometric authentications look set to grow further in importance as part of the payments landscape.

Companies such as Sweden’s Fingerprints (for online payment ID) and the UK’s Fingopay (for physical payments) have pioneered their use in P2P and P2B transactions, while some national ID schemes such as BankID in the Nordics and nemID now include biometric factors alongside PIN in their log-in processes.

Fingerprints (Sweden): Continues to lead development of biometric sensors, especially for fingerprint-enabled payment cards and mobile devices in Europe, supporting both remote (online) payment ID and card-based transactions since 2025.​

Fingopay (UK): Specialises in vein recognition systems for physical payments, with deployments in retail, hospitality, and transport, pioneering biometric authentication for point-of-sale transactions and peer-to-peer (P2P) settings.​

National ID Schemes: Nordic BankID services (Sweden, Norway) and Denmark’s NemID (transitioning to MitID) now commonly offer biometric log-in options—such as face and fingerprint authentication—alongside traditional PIN/password, used for identification in financial, public, and private sector services.

Biometric Authentication in European Payments

Additional Trends and Initiatives for 2025

Mastercard Identity Check – Mastercard launched Identity Check in October 2016, pioneering biometric authentication for online card payments across much of Europe.​ 3D Secure (EMV 3DS) is the framework enabling these secure authentications, often using SMS codes, push approvals, or biometrics (fingerprint/face).​

Since 2024, Mastercard has expanded Identity Attribute Verification services, integrating them with new European Digital Identity Wallet pilot programs. This supports not only consumer-to-merchant payments but also richer identity checks (age, address), further reducing friction without compromising security.​

Today, 2-factor authentication for Mastercard payments may use one-time codes, fingerprint/face recognition in mobile apps, and sometimes dedicated hardware or behavioural biometrics, complying with PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) mandate.​

Mastercard Identity Check (EMV 3-D Secure) is supported in all European Economic Area (EEA) countries, the United Kingdom, and most other European markets, along with global acceptance in North America, APAC, and Latin America through Mastercard’s international network.​

For Europe specifically, this means Mastercard Identity Check is available in at least 30 countries (all EEA states plus the UK, Switzerland, and several others). The number continues to grow with compliance expansion and global merchant adoption.

In April 2020, the Payconiq by Bancontact app launched biometric authentication with fingerprints and facial recognition, eliminating the need for PIN codes and passwords.

As of 2021, many banks offer the “itsme” ID proposition as an additional option to log in to their mobile banking app and to carry out transactions in it. The COVID safe app has encouraged many Belgians to use itsme since 2021. As a result, with more than 6.5 million Belgian users – four out of five Belgian adults have an account – itsme has emerged as the market standard for digital identification. Every month, 25 to 34 million actions are performed in the application.

The number of users of the itsme identity app continued to grow in 2024. As of end-2024, more than 7 million Belgians are using the itsme app with more than 1 million actions executed each day. This means that more than 80% of the adult Belgian population aged 16 or over now has an itsme account.

Banking Sector

Banque Nationale de Belgique / Nationale Bank van België (NBB) is the national central bank and supervises the banking system in Belgium together with Commission Bancaire, Financiere et des Assurance (CBFA), the Financial Supervisory Authority and Belgian banking association FEBELFIN.

At the end of 2012, as the lead overseer of Mastercard Europe (MCE), NBB ended its cooperative assessment of MCE’s compliance with the Euro system 2008 standards.

Following the financial crisis, the bank sector was rescued and reshaped by the Belgian state. In 2012 according to NBB, one-off operations and underlying business developments resulted in a further €99 billion decline in the total assets of the Belgian banking sector. From €1,600 billion in 2006, the cumulative balance sheet of Belgian credit institutions came down to €1,049 billion at end-2012.

As elsewhere, the pandemic and the exceptional measures taken in 2020 prompted an unprecedented fall in Belgian GDP of 6.3%. Belgian inflation based on the European harmonised consumer price index was very low in 2020, averaging 0.4%, due mainly to a steep year-on-year decline in energy prices. According to the NBB, in 2021 Belgium’s real GDP grew by 6.1% from 2020, one of the highest average annual rises in Belgium since the Second World War, and back to pre‑pandemic levels in as little as seven quarters, whereas this had taken nine quarters following the 2008 financial crisis. In 2021, GDP growth in Belgium was 0.9 of a percentage point higher than in the euro area, where it advanced by 5.2%. In 2022, real GDP grew by 3.0% boosted by increased private consumption. In 2023, the economy grew by 1.3% due to modest outcomes in household consumption and business investment. In 2024, the Belgian economy grew by 1%, mainly supported by strong private consumption despite weakened purchasing power.

As of 2021, the inflation rate was 2.4% and the average inflation rate worsened to 10.32% in 2022 due to rising energy prices. By 2023, inflation rate moderated to 4% due to lower energy prices. In 2024, inflation moderated further to 3.1% due to easing energy price pressures.

Belgium’s open regulatory environment, and the presence of a large number of international businesses, has attracted a number of large international cash management banks to the country.

In 2016, legislation was passed to harmonise a number of the country’s bank taxes into a single tax. Existing bank taxes and levies, including the annual tax on credit institutions, the financial stability contribution, and the bank tax limiting the offset of the notional interest deduction (NID), were repealed and replaced by the new bank tax. The European contributions (deposit guarantee scheme and European single resolution fund) are not affected by the change. The new bank tax applies to both Belgian legal entities and Belgian branches of foreign banks.

The country’s financial sector is likely to benefit post-Brexit with many of London’s international banks seeking to set up subsidiaries in Brussels. Since 2017, seven UK payment/e-money institutions have been relocated to Belgium, which underlines the importance of Belgium as an EU gateway location for such institutions.

On 4 November 2014, the European Central Bank (ECB), via the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), assumed the responsibility of supervising the financial stability of banks operating within the euro zone. However, while the ECB has final supervisory authority over all banks operating within the euro zone, it will only directly supervise those banks classified as ‘significant’ under the terms of the SSM (by July 2025, 114 significant banking groups have been recognised). All other ‘less significant’ banks continue to be supervised by CBFA.

Belgium has adopted a symmetrical rounding policy to eliminate 1c and 2c coins. When consumers get change in cash at shops, the amount of that change will be rounded to the nearest 5c coin to reduce the need for 1c and 2c coins. Other EU member states applying a symmetrical rounding policy include Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

Structure

The Belgian banking sector has a much more international character compared with neighbouring countries: around 80% of all banks in Belgium are foreign banks or in foreign ownership though subject to Belgian law.

According to the National Bank of Belgium, in 2024, there were 76 banks in Belgium of which 14 banks are under Belgian law with Belgian majority ownership, 13 banks are under Belgian law with foreign majority ownership, and 49 banks are under foreign law (from EU: 45, from non-EU: 4). In addition, there were 17 representative offices of foreign banks.

As of December 2021, Belgium had a sophisticated bank network composed of 4,282 branches.

Belgium’s retail banking sector is dominated by four banks – BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, Belfius Bank and ING Belgium – of which KBC and Belfius Bank are headquartered in Brussels. Other Belgian banks include Beobank, bpost bank, Crelan, and Europabank. The leading four banks have a market share of 86.8% in total bank assets. Though all have much in common, particularly in the form of significant bancassurance activities, each also have their own special characteristics.

The number of banks governed by Belgian law declined by one in 2021 with the deregistration of Santander Consumer Bank, which was absorbed by the Spanish bank Santander Consumer Finance. In 2024, the number of banks incorporated under Belgian law reduced to 28 from 29 in 2023.

1 - Leading Belgian Banks 2024
BankOwnershipTotal Assets (€bn)Market share
BNP Paribas FortisBNP Paribas Group (F)379.832.2%
KBC BankKBC Group (B)335.628.5%
Belfius BankState-owned (B)187.515.9%
ING BelgiumING Group (NL)163.113.8%
Leading banks total1,066.090.2%
other banks115.59.8%
Total1,181.5100.0%
Note: total assets are as at end-2023.
Source: Yearbook research.

BNP Paribas Fortis is the largest Belgian bank by total assets. It covers both the retail banking and Corporate banking activities of the BNP Paribas Group (F) in Belgium. BNP Paribas Fortis reported more than 3.4 million individual customers and 0.36 million active clients in affluent and private banking at end-2024. Its network includes 1,727 ATMs, 275 branches (of which 120 are independent branches), and 656 post office outlets from its acquisition of bpost Bank.

After overcoming resistance from Fortis shareholders, BNP Paribas completed the purchase of 75% of Fortis Bank in May 2009, with the Belgian state retaining 25% through its SFPI/FPIM investment vehicle. Previously, during 2008, the retail banking activities of Fortis were reorganised. From 2010, BNP Paribas Group (F) owns a 99.94% of BNP Paribas Fortis. BGL, the former Fortis subsidiary in Luxembourg, is 100% owned by BNP Paribas Group (F), since 2010.

At the time of the BNP Paribas takeover, Fortis had operations in five countries and a base of 5 million customers. It claimed market leadership in Belgium and Luxembourg, a challenger position in Poland and Turkey, and additional distribution through the post office networks of Belgium and Ireland (for more details see in the Appendix).

In October 2018, BNP Paribas Fortis selected Earthport (US) to provide Automated Clearing House (ACH) cross-border payment services.

KBC Bank, the second-largest Belgian bank by total assets, reported 429 branches in Belgium in 2024, together with 665 foreign branches including in Central and Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria). The group reported more than 4.0 million customers at end-2024 in Belgium, of which 3.5 million were customers of KBC Bank. KBC has a structure reflecting the federal structure of the Belgian state: KBC Bank in Flanders, CBC Banque in Wallonia, and KBC Bank Brussels for the Brussels region.

KBC was formed in 1998 from the merger of Kredietbank, Belgium’s second largest bank, Cera, the co-operative bank, and ABB, an insurer. KBC is the dominant financial group in Flanders, Belgium’s Dutch-speaking northern half. In 2024, the results of European stress tests confirmed that KBC met the required target.

KBC added to its network in 2007 with the purchases of Cibank in Bulgaria and Absolut Bank in Russia, taking operations beyond the CEE region where its ambitious expansion strategy began. In July 2008, KBC acquired Istrobanka in Slovakia, lifting its market share to 10%. Before the UBB acquisition, Bulgaria was the CEE market where KBC’s insurance interests outweigh banking, with 1.5 million insurance customers in Bulgaria, compared with 1.0 million banking customers. The Czech Republic is the next most important insurance market, with 0.5 million insurance customers.

As of 2024, KBC stated that its core markets were Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The sale of its Irish unit was concluded in 2022.

KBC Group’s European Home Market – KBC has invested over €4 billion in acquiring CEE banking networks and reported 8.9 million customers in Central and Eastern Europe and Ireland at the end of 2024. With 4.0 million Belgian banking customers, this gave a total of approximately 13 million banking customers globally. KBC ranks No 2 in Czechia and Hungary, where it owns CSOB and K&H, respectively. In October 2012, KBC regarded Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria as ‘home markets’.

In June 2017, National Bank of Greece (GR) sold United Bulgarian Bank (UBB) to Belgian KBC Bank Group for a total consideration of €610 million.

In 2019, KBC acquired the remaining 45% stake in the Czech building society ČMSS for €240 million, leaving its Czech subsidiary bank ČSOB as the sole owner of ČMSS. In February 2020, KBC announced it had completed the acquisition of OTP Banka Slovakia after receiving regulatory approval.

In October 2021, KBC Bank Ireland announced the sale of substantially all its performing loan assets and liabilities to Bank of Ireland Group in a deal worth around €5 billion. The deal was closed in February 2022.

Table 2 highlights KBC’s European home market at end-2024 after the divestments agreed with the Belgian state (see below).

2 - KBC’s European Home Market at end-2024
CountryTotal Customers (m)Bank customers (m)Branches
Belgium4.04.0429
CSOB CZ (CZ)4.34.3198
CSOB SR (SK)0.80.898
K&H (H)1.61.6193
CIBank-UBB (BG)2.22.2176
KBC Group12.912.91,105
- thereof CEE Region8.98.9665
Note: total customers include insurance customers.
Source: KBC.

Belfius Bank (previously Dexia Bank) is a Belgian banking and insurance group wholly owned by the Belgian federal state through the Federal Holding and Investment Company (FHIC). In 2024, Belfius Bank reported 460 branches. Belfius served 3.8 million retail customers and approximately 360,000 business customers.

Belfius has been adapting its ATM fleet in line with the roll-out of BATOPIN (Belgian ATM Optimization Initiative). BATOPIN is a joint venture created by Belgium’s four largest banks—Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and KBC—to develop and manage a nationwide, shared ATM network in Belgium. Its core goal is to ensure that 95% of Belgians have access to a neutral, bank-independent ATM (“CASH point”) within five kilometres of their home or work.

By the end of 2024, 581 sites were deployed with in total 1,459 cash machines and more will be added in the future in accordance with the agreement signed in March 2023 between the banking sector, represented by Febelfin, and the government.

ING Belgium is the fourth largest bank by total bank assets. In 2024, it reported more than 3 million retail customers and 206 (2021: 552) branches and service points in Belgium. In 2022, ING Belgium removed half of its branches amid digitisation drive and now boasts only 206 branches. ING Belgium also offers direct channels like the fully automated Self’Banks, Home’Bank, online banking and mobile banking. In 1998, ING Group (NL) took over Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL), Belgium’s third largest, to become the fourth major player in Belgium. BBL became ING Belgium.

Record Bank, a 100% subsidiary of ING Belgium, focusses on retail banking with 800,000 clients and consumer finance. ING Luxembourg, a 100% subsidiary of ING Belgium is a universal bank with 130,000 customers in Luxembourg. ING Belgium has a foreign branch in Switzerland based in Geneva.

In April 2018, ING Belgium implemented the takeover of Record Bank. The existing clients of Record Bank became customers of ING Belgium. ING is integrating the Record Bank branches into the ING branch network in Belgium.

Beobank – In December 2011, CitiGroup (US) sold its consumer franchise, Citibank Belgium, to Crédit Mutuel Nord Europe (CMNE), after having been active in Belgium since 1919. In March 2013, Citibank was rebranded as Beobank. It reported 790,000 customers and 190 branches in 2024.

Deutsche Bank Belgium reported 34 branches, three business centres, and about 300,000 customers at end-2024. It acquired Crédit Lyonnais Belgium in 1998.

bpost Bank – Founded in 1995 under the name ‘Bank van De Post / Banque de La Poste’, bpost Bank is an independent Belgian bank. The bank is held on a 50-50 basis by BNP Paribas Fortis (B) and bpost (B), the Belgian Postal service owned by the Belgian state (51.04%) and free float (48.96%) for the balance. In 2013, the two owners agreed to extend their partnership until 2021. In 2022, bpost Bank managed 657 branch office outlets at bpost premises.

During 2021, after running bpost Bank in a 50:50 joint venture with national postal operator bpost, BNP further consolidated its network by acquiring the remaining 50% of bpost Bank’s shares, while also renewing its partnership agreement with bpost for 7 years. BNP is now the sole supplier of bpost Bank’s 600,000 customers, leveraging the financial services of BNP Paribas Fortis and the distribution network of bpost. As of 2022, bpost bank was fully integrated into BNP Paribas Fortis, with a network of approximately 800 branches.

Digital Challenger Banks 

A number of digital challenger banks have entered Belgium, e.g. N26, Revolut and Wise (formerly TransferWise). They already have a clear Open Banking strategy in place.

In parallel, many Belgian banks co-operate and partner with trusted digital payment providers and FinTechs to prepare for the Open Banking ecosystem, enrich their digital banking services, and to offer additional mobile banking app features.

In June 2016, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa (F) completed its acquisition of Belgian online bank Keytrade from Crelan Group.

Hello bank!, Europe’s first digital mobile bank, launched by BNP Paribas Fortis in Belgium in May 2013. The bank operates in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and Austria. By 2021, Hello bank! had 3 million customers across its five markets. In 2021, BNP Paribas Fortis launched the new digital “Hello bank! Pro” service for the self-employed and entrepreneurs, enabling them to request a company number and open a business account online. As of 2024, Hello Bank! Pro had 557,000 customers.

In March 2018, BNP Paribas Fortis struck a deal with Tink to incorporate the Swedish firm’s account aggregation, personal financial management, and payment initiation technology into the bank’s mobile app. The first step was the release of the new multi-banking app for BNP Paribas’ digital bank Hello bank! followed by integration with the bank’s Easy Banking app by autumn 2019. Tink has been live with its consumer app on the Swedish market since 2013. Its investors include Creades, Sunstone Ventures, SEB Ventures, Nordea, Nordnet and ABN AMRO Ventures.

In January 2020, Cake, a banking app which aggregates customers’ existing bank accounts and transactions into one place, launched in Belgium. Cake received its banking licence from the NBB in July 2019 and had open API links with banks including AXA, Rabobank and KBC. By mid-2022, the Cake app had 148,525 users in Belgium making 284 million transactions with a total value of over €66 billion. In November 2023, the Belgian financial app Cake was acquired by Levenue, a company specialising in revenue-based financing. This acquisition aims to enhance Cake’s financial services and expand its offerings to a broader audience.

In February 2020, the new subscription-only digital bank Aion launched in Belgium. Aion was formerly the Banca Monte Paschi Belgian unit and rebranded in 2019 following its acquisition by investment firm Warburg Pincus. The app-based bank has a service called MoneyMax that is powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Aion charges a flat subscription fee and does not charge ATM, currency exchange, investment, or withdrawal fees.

Digital Banking

All Belgian banks offer internet banking, SMS banking, and mobile banking apps to their clients. At end-2024, 83% of Belgians were online-banking users. According to FEBELFIN, in 2024, there were over 15.1 million online (PC) banking subscriptions and 13.4 million mobile banking subscriptions. Both the PC and the mobile app are the most popular channels to do banking. More than 80% of Belgians use the app at least once a month. Compared to 2023, this represents an increase, confirming the growing popularity of digital banking. 78% of Belgians who do their banking via the internet say they use these services mainly for making payments. The second most important reason is for viewing account balances (70%) and transactions, and thirdly, to make transfers between a customer’s own accounts (46%).

This preference for digital has led to a decrease in the number of bank branches in the country. According to FEBELFIN’s findings, 219 had closed their doors in 2022, which accounts for 5.7% of all Belgian banking agencies. However, the findings highlight that Belgium still has more banks than the European average, with 378 branches per million inhabitants compared to the European average of 318. By 2024, the number of bank branches maintained a downward trend, falling to 3,048 by the end of 2024 from 3,243 in 2023.

The national online banking standard, Interbank Standards Association Belgium (ISABEL), is used by all the leading banks in Belgium. The ISABEL6, the multi-banking platform of Isabel Group, provides a variety of multibank reporting and transaction initiation services, both domestically and internationally.

ISABEL has developed a number of online facilities and online electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) services. They are increasingly available and popular. As of 2022, about 50,000 companies and SMEs used ISABEL and it processed 1.2 million transactions per day, across 24 banks.

In September 2019, ISABEL6 was rebranded as Seven. Seven became available in Belgium the first quarter of 2020.

Mobile banking apps offering immediate mobile money transfer services in Belgium include Bancontact Payconiq, and PayPal. According to Bancontact Payconiq, in 2021 204 million transactions were carried out with the Payconiq app, up 62% compared with 2020. In 2024, 471 million mobile payments (+28% from 2023) were made using the Payconiq by Bancontact app or a banking app incorporating Bancontact and/or Payconiq and there were over 335 million online payments (+26% from 2023). In December 2024, 90% of online payments were made using the Payconiq by Bancontact app or with a banking app incorporating Bancontact and/or Payconiq.

Belfius Bank – Through executing its digital strategy, Belfius became a leader in mobile banking with 2.1 million active mobile users in 2024.

After a five-month trial, in October 2021, Belfius launched the Beats subscription payment and telecom service in the Belfius Mobile app. This launch was the next step in the strategic partnership between Belfius and Proximus. October 2021 also saw the introduction of Banx, the fully digital banking experience developed in conjunction with Belfius, which offers customers insights into the carbon impacts of their purchases. Digital acceleration also picked up speed in 2021, with 63% of individual customers being digitally active.

Banx, a fully digital, Belgian banking experience, imagined by Proximus, powered by Belfius, was launched at the end of 2021.

At the end of 2024, the total number of users of the Belfius apps for smartphones and tablets had risen to more than 2.1million (+5% from 2023), with an average of 41 log-ons per month. In 2024, 39% of credit cards were sold through digital channels.

Since 2015 Belfius has been the main partner of The Birdhouse start-up accelerator, of which Belfius owns a 20% stake. Birdhouse has helped to launch 30 start-ups so far, with Belfius financing the costs of the programme for start-ups while taking a 3% stake in their capital.

Given the constant development of payment systems in a changing European legislative framework (including the introduction of PSD3), Belfius has invested in new solutions (including linking cards to a Fitbit or Garmin). Belfius is also a main shareholder of the local payment scheme Bancontact Payconiq, and Isabel, the largest FinTech company in Belgium, providing multi-banking services for business users.

In September 2022, Belfius became the first bank in Belgium to offer Bancontact on Apple Pay, along with customers of the Banx app. In 2024, Belfius introduced person-to-person payments via a contact list or QR code and will continue to improve this type of payment in 2025. E-commerce payments will also be rolled out in the near future.

In November 2023, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced the successful closure of the acquisition of the Dutch payment solution iDEAL and the Luxembourg technology provider Payconiq International as announced earlier that year.

This marks a significant milestone for EPI’s strategy to deliver a unified instant payment scheme and platform for Europe.

The completion of these acquisitions further supports its ambition to become a leading player in the European payments landscape, an ambition that has been hampered by arguments and delay.

BNP Paribas Fortis – In January 2014, bpost bank, the joint venture between BNP Paribas Fortis and bpost, the Belgian postal operator, launched the first mobile banking app.

In February 2019, BNP Paribas Fortis added real-time account aggregation from multiple providers to its Easy Banking app, giving customers a single overview of their various bank accounts on one screen. The AISP service covers accounts held in Belgium with Belfius, ING, and KBC.

As of 2024, BNP Paribas Fortis managed the online Easy Banking service and mobile banking service, with an aggregate total of 3.25 million active users. The Easy Banking App is becoming increasingly popular with 2.5 million users by the end of 2023 (2022: 2.1 million). The proportion of direct sales carried out through remote channels stood at 50% as 1 in 2 sales were finalised entirely via digital channels. In 2024, the number of active digital users rose to 3 million. The number of sessions on the Easy Banking App increased by 30% from 2023, resulting in a record of 1.2 billion customer contracts through the App in 2024.

KBC Bank – In March 2018, KBC became the first bank in Belgium to let customers see the balances they have with Argenta, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, and ING through the KBC mobile banking app.

In March 2019, KBC allowed customers to link their car’s number plates to the KBC banking app, enabling them to pay for their parking automatically from their current accounts. In September 2019, KBC added PayPal balances and transactional information to its mobile bank account aggregation app.

According to KBC, in 2021, as a result of the various pandemic lockdowns, its ‘Differently: the Next Level’ strategy, which was launched in 2020, aimed to enhance client interactions with the use of artificial intelligence, and to evolve from an omnichannel distribution model towards a digital-first distribution model. The bank’s overall aim is to provide all relevant solutions via mobile applications. KBC plans to invest approximately €1.4 billion in its Digital First strategy in the period 2022-2024.

During 2021, KBC expanded the use of Kate, its personal digital assistant, to proactively offer solutions to clients based on their frequent interactions with the bank. Kate is available as part of the mobile application for retail clients in Belgium and the Czech Republic and was scheduled to be rolled out in other countries during 2022. Kate for businesses (with a focus on SMEs) was launched in 2021. By end-2024, Kate had 5.3 million users (2023: 4.2 million). In 2022, KBC introduced the Kate Coin, a first in Europe. Since the start of 2023, KBC clients have been able to acquire Kate Coins when purchasing certain products or services from KBC, such as a home loan, home insurance or saving spare change. They can then use the Kate Coins to save money by exchanging them for additional benefits and cashbacks. The number of cases resolved fully autonomously by Kate also continues to grow and at year-end 2024, this stood at roughly 69% in Belgium (2023: 63%).

As of 2024, 55% of banking products were sold through digital channels and the number of mobile app users increased by 9%.

ING Bank – During 2020, ING reported that its newly launched mobile and online banking channels proved to be more crucial amidst the pandemic with increased usage of the ING app (+25%), and a higher number of cashless payments while handling additional customer calls at the same time (+15%). In 2024, the bank made significant progress in reclaiming its digital leadership position and transforming its service model, to become the most recommended mobile-led bank in Belgium.

Over the year, ING invested in digital remote advice capabilities to ensure the availability of expert advice at the convenience of its customers. During 2021, ING Belgium reported that nearly seven out of 10 customers banked digitally. As part of its new strategy, ING Belgium invested heavily in 2021 to make digital and remote banking more accessible. By the end of 2021, ING’s experts were carrying out 12 times as many remote conversations per month as in the first months of the roll-out.

ING Belgium’s mobile app was used more than 1.7 million times per day and in 2021, there were 615 million visitor sessions, an increase of 13% year-on-year. In 2024, customer interaction through the app continued to rise. Key figures include 150 million visits per quarter, chat conversations accounting for 43% of contact centre volumes, and 53% of all chat conversations being handled by the chatbot by the end of the year. In 2023, the use of the ING Banking app continued to rise reaching 60 million (2022: 55 million) monthly visits by the bank’s 1.5 million active users. The number of primary mobile customers grew by 4% in 2022, which may indicate that they appreciate the bank’s range of new mobile banking services. ING Belgium had 1.4 million mobile retail customers out of 2.3 retail customers. 58% of customers are mobile-only customers, up from 51% in 2021.

In 2023 customers bought 73% of the products that are available digitally via the ING Banking app or on their computer, an increase of more than 31% for digital sales. There was an increase of 56% for mobile sales compared to 2022 which represents 39% of total sales. 63% of all sales were via the app, and 84% of all sales were digital in 2024.

About Open API Standards

In June 2017, The Berlin Group, the European payments interoperability coalition of banks and payment processors with membership comprising bank backed ACHs and industry bodies, announced it would push a single standard for API access to bank accounts (XS2A) compliant with the PSD2 regulation.

The Berlin Group says its NextGenPSD2 Initiative provides a harmonised API standard for accessing bank accounts. Built as an ‘Access to Account Framework’, The Berlin Group says the standard offers operational rules and implementation guidelines with detailed data definitions, message modelling and information flows based on RESTful API methodology.

As of the beginning of 2021, the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 was implemented in all EU countries, in several non-EU countries in Europe and in countries outside Europe who are focused on maintaining reachability and compatibility with the European market. Around 80% of European banks and hundreds of third-party providers (TPPs) have implemented the Berlin Group NextGenPSD2 Framework. In 2021, the group was migrated to the Open Finance task force to explore use cases of Open Banking schemes and Open Finance schemes.

Among others, European Open API sets include Open Banking UK, Swiss Corporate API, and STET Open API (F, B).

As of 2024, there were 29 Open Banking bank account providers, 14 third-party providers, 69 bank APIs, and 20 API aggregators in Belgium.

Key Belgian Open Banking providers include prominent banks (ABN AMRO Belgium, Belfius, CBC, Fintro, Fortis, HelloBank BE, ING, KBC, N26) and TPPs (Worldline, Isabel, Unifiedpost Payments, Digiteal, Cake, iBanFirst).​

There are several important updates and recent details to add regarding Open API standards and Open Banking in Europe and Belgium. As of 2024, the Berlin Group, along with other standardisation initiatives, has significantly advanced Open API and Open Finance frameworks, resulting in broader industry adoption and interoperability.​

Berlin Group and OpenFinance API Framework

European Open API Sets and Industry Expansion

These developments mark a transition from PSD2-driven access to a much wider Open Finance landscape, with almost universal bank API implementation, extensive support for business and consumer account types, and expanding services enabling secure, data-driven payments and financial innovations across Belgium and greater Europe.

PSD2 and the Open Banking Mandate

The adoption of the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, has set the stage for Open Banking in Europe, a European Open Banking Mandate with significant impact on the financial services industry. PSD2 challenges for banks and FinTechs include Open Banking, Open APIs, and the rollout of digital payment services and mobile apps.

PSD2 lowers the barriers for market entry to third-party service providers, FinTechs, and it opens up doors for innovative players to offer services that currently do not exist, e. g. account information services, third-party personal finance management, digital identity and KYC.

PSD2 is going to change the European payment and banking landscape and ultimately the position and role of banks in the ecosystem. FinTechs drive the change with the banking industry seeking the right strategy.

Post-PSD2, the key question for the financial service industry will be how to grant authorised access for their FinTech partners to bank account information, for instance secure access to account balance, payment data, credit risk and others.

For banks, the impact of the PSD2 is that they are no longer the only ones that have access to the bank customer information. Bank customers will now decide who they want to grant access to their payment information. Alongside this initiative, with new services based on access to bank accounts (XS2A), banks may lose the direct connection to their customers. To maintain their position in the new PSD2 reality, banks will need to adapt their business and operational models.

By mid-2025, notable challenges for the banking industry in Belgium include:

In June 2017, Worldline selected Apigee Edge software to implement digital solutions for Open Banking API services. Worldine’s first 3 API use cases included digital banking, connected cars, and an internal developer platform. Its digital banking solution offers a dedicated developer portal for customers in a separate environment, with its own architecture to access back-end services as well. With functionality ranging from trusted authentication to contract completion, payments, and contact management, Worldline digital banking customers can tap into APIs to interact with the company at every stage.

In January 2018, Worldline and iSignthis launched Paydentity services across Europe. ISXPay combines the RegTech capabilities of iSignthis with the acquiring capabilities of Worldline to offer merchants and FinTechs AML compliance services. The Paydentity services include customer due diligence, identity verification, payment acceptation and authentication solutions, transaction monitoring, and original credit transfers (OCT), coupled with Worldline’s VISA/Mastercard acquiring, settlement and clearing services. Following this partnership, iSignthis will be able to leverage the balance sheet and cash settlement capabilities of Worldline.

The tool is designed to help e-commerce merchants, FinTech companies and cryptocurrency exchanges comply with monitoring and authentication requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, 5AMLD, and the revised Payment Services Directive, PSD2, in Europe.

Payment Services

In Belgium, the law on payment services adopted the EU payment services directive (PSD) and the EU interchange fee regulation (IFR). Belgium has also transposed PSD2 – effective from January 2018 – into national law.

In 2025, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:

Card Brands and Card Types

For many years, Belgium had achieved a very comfortable situation with a single interoperable ATM/POS infrastructure, a single domestic BC/MC debit card scheme co-badged with Maestro for international use, and multi-brand credit cards in addition to the banks’ current account offering.

All Belgian retail banks issue debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards with one of the Mastercard or VISA brands. The EMV migration of cards was completed in 2012.

Bancontact is the renewed domestic debit card brand, since April 2016. Named Bancontact/MisterCash (BC/MC) before, Bancontact cards are mainstream in Belgium. Most Bancontact cards are co-badged with Maestro. However, they are restricted to European use, since 2011. Acceptance of Bancontact cards includes the channels: face-to-face, vending machines, internet, QR-code, Bancontact mobile app, and MOTO.

From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991, and it was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa discontinued Electron cards in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card. In 2021, BNP Paribas Fortis and VISA launched VISA Debit in Belgium.

Belgian card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs, cashback, card control by SMS notification and other in-app controls like geo blocking) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards are issued on demand.

Debit cards issued are Bancontact and Maestro cards, which have been phased out in favour of VISA Debit and Debit Mastercard cards. Additionally, V PAY cards are in circulation.

Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA, Mastercard and American Express. There are no JCB cards or Diners Club cards in issue.

Prepaid Cards – Issuance of bank prepaid cards started in 2008 with KBC being the first issuer.

Co-branded cards – In Belgium, several co-branded card products are in circulation. Co-branded cards are based on the international card brands Mastercard, VISA and American Express.

Most active banks in co-branding include Buy Way, Oney Bank, CBC Banque, Beobank and AirPlus International.

Contactless Cards and form-factors

Contactless Cards were successfully tested but had not been issued by Belgian banks until end-2011. One reason was that the Belgian banks gave priority to first deciding on the SEPA migration of their domestic BC/MC debit card scheme which would require replacing all EFTPOS terminals and, thus, would allow for issuance of contactless cards and migration to contactless terminals in one step.

In preparation for the impending launch of contactless card acceptance in Belgium, postal provider bpost launched, in February 2012, “bpaid”, the first Mastercard PayPass prepaid card in Belgium. bpaid features a vertical design to give the card a unique look. The bpaid card itself is not personalised to the cardholder, allowing instant issuing of the card. According to bpost, the bpaid card is processed by SIX Payment Services Luxembourg and uses Oberthur (now IDEMIA) dual interface cards.

From 4 May 2015, KBC customers could pay contactless with the new KBC bank card. All Belgian banks issue contactless Bancontact cards and VISA/Mastercard credit cards. In November 2018, KBC Bank piloted contactless payments using a variety of accessories, including a ring, Garmin sports watch (Garmin Pay), bracelets and a key ring, each with an embedded contactless chip. In 2019 the bank launched the contactless FitBit Pay service.

Contactless Dual Debit-Credit Display Card Showcase – In November 2012, Banca Monte Paschi Belgio (BMPB), the Belgian member of Italian Gruppo MPS, and Mastercard launched the first contactless PayPass payment card combining a Maestro debit card on one side and a Mastercard credit card on the other. As of 2020 the card is no longer issued.

Predefined contactless limits in Belgium – Contactless payments of purchase amounts below a predefined contactless limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Belgium, the contactless limit for payments without PIN/signature was set at €25 for cards branded PayPass, payWave, or Bancontact cards. In March 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PIN-less contactless limit was raised to €50 to encourage more non-cash transactions. In the case of successive contactless payments without a PIN code, the cumulative limit is increased to €100.

The NBB reported that the COVID-19 pandemic had rapidly changed payment behaviour in Belgium in 2020, with contactless payments accounting for 42% of all payments made with Bancontact cards. This was an increase of 283% compared to 2019.

In 2022, NBB reported that card payments account for 48% of transactions in the country. Indeed, Belgium is one of only 4 countries in the Eurosystem where cards have overtaken cash as a means of payment. Online payments are also on the rise in Belgium. In 3 years, the share of online payments in total payment traffic rose from 13% to 24%. By 2024, NBB reported that the use of cash as a means of payment continues to decline. Only 39% of retail purchases in Belgium are now paid for with cash down from nearly 45% in 2022. However, the popularity of cash is waning less quickly in Belgium than in the euro area, where the use of cash fell by eight percentage points on average since the last study. In Belgium, 53% of in-shop purchases are made using a payment card and 3% via a payment application. With regard to the latter, Belgium lags behind the euro area, where mobile apps are used for 6% of payments.

The payment behaviour of ING customers also changed significantly in 2020, breaking records for contactless payments. There were 82 million contactless payments made via Bancontact in 2020, up from 29 million in 2019, an almost threefold increase.

As of 2021, the NB reported that the use of cash was declining in favour of paying by contactless card and smartphone. In December 2021, 57.70% of all debit card payments in shops were contactless. In comparison, in February 2020, this amounted to only 16%, meaning a threefold increase in less than 2 years.

Data from Bancontact Payconiq shows that the number of mobile payments rose by 28% in 2024 and for the first time ever, Belgian consumers paid for in-store purchases more often by contactless card than by inserting cards into POS terminals. By 2024, Belgians made 471 million mobile payments with the Payconiq by Bancontact app or banking app featuring the Bancontact and/or Payconiq method of payment in 2024, an increase of 28% compared to 2023. Today, paying contactless with the Bancontact card is far and away the most used payment method in Belgium. In 2024, 70% of all card payments using Bancontact were contactless, versus 14.5% in February 2020, just before the pandemic. In the period ahead, the rise in popularity of the QR code will mean even more contactless mobile payments. According to Bancontact Payconiq, the increase in the number of merchants incorporating QR codes at the POS is driving up contactless mobile payments. Following the example set by payment solution providers CCV and Payworld, Worldline also incorporated the Payconiq QR code into its payment terminals since December 2021.

In addition to mobile payments, there were 18 million Bancontact cards in circulation in 2024, 99% of which were contactless. 2020 saw a sudden breakthrough in contactless payments with the Bancontact card among the general public, with more than 444.3 million payments. In 2024, the number of contactless payments rose to 1.35 billion, an increase of 8% compared with 2023. In August 2021, a historic milestone was reached when Belgian consumers collectively paid for purchases in-store more frequently (50.8%) with contactless Bancontact cards than with PIN entry.

Interchange Fee Arrangements

International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Belgium, respectively. The effective rates of Mastercard and VISA can be found on the respective Mastercard and VISA websites.

In Belgium, domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) rates for Belgium cards is defined by Mastercard and VISA, respectively. The interchange fee regulation 2015/751/EU applies for Belgian card business.

Belgium’s interchange fee arrangements for card payments as of 2024-2025, fully harmonized with the EU Interchange Fee Regulation (2015/751/EU).​

Domestic Interchange Fee (DMIF) Rates Belgium

Regulation and Opinions

American Express – As a result of the EU regulation of interchange fees (IFR), American Express elected to exit all of its bank licensing arrangements in the European Union. This means that they have terminated all licenses with its existing EU partners, stopped issuing new cards and are in the final stages of the process of closing down all operations directly related to bank licensing. Over the course of 2019, American Express credit cards issued under independent operator agreements were rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. Various banks that have up to now had exclusive licensing contracts with American Express have already responded accordingly and provided their clients with the opportunity to switch to other card brands.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe is now the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Austria. However, American Express Payments Europe continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

JCB International – For the same reason, JCB credit cards issued under independent operator agreements will be rendered invalid in all countries of the European Union. From 2020, JCB International is now the sole issuer and acquirer of JCB cards in Europe, including Belgium. However, JCB continues its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of JCB cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

Bancontact DMIF Rates (2025) –

E-Money 

In Belgium, the law on e-money services has adopted the e-money directive of the EU (EMD).

Electronic money schemes in Belgium are available in the form of reloadable prepaid cards, e.g. luncheon cards. According to NBB, the use of e-money on software-based systems has been marginal.

According to the Bancontact company, e-purse Proton was phased-out by end of February 2015. It was replaced by the new contactless function of Bancontact cards and by QR-code initiated mobile app payments on Bancontact cards.

In 2024, there were four e-money institutions (EMIs) resident in Belgium, according to the ECB. Furthermore, 224 e-money institutions from the EEA region have provided notification that they are using the EU passport system in Belgium.

Additionally, software-based e-money wallet services are also offered by international payment service providers and online-wallet issuers from the EEA region. They provided notification of operating in Belgium under the EU passport system.

Prepaid Products – paysafecard (A) entered Belgium and launched its prepaid product, paysafecard.

Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services 

In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as IBAN-based payment services in SCT/SDD format offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).

Credit transfers are used for high-value corporate and low-value retail payment transactions. They can be paper-based or automated. Electronic credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier and benefit payments. Paper-based credit transfers are typically used for retail transactions. On 1 April 2014, SEPA credit transfers (SCT) replaced all previous credit transfer schemes in Belgium. All Belgian banks participate in the SCT Scheme.

Direct debits are mainly used for regular low-value payments such as utility bills and insurance premiums. On 1 April 2014, SEPA direct debits (SDD) replaced all previous direct debit schemes in Belgium.

Instant payments (SCTINST) is the IBAN-based immediate payment scheme in Europe, officially launched in November 2017. It makes funds immediately available to the beneficiary – compliant with existing SCT infrastructure. The regulators required all banks to offer Instant Payments from 2018.

Among others, the characteristics of SCTINST include an initial maximum of €15,000 with the funds made available on the beneficiary’s account in less than ten seconds, 24/7/365 real-time processing, and immediate refunds in the case that the SCTINST payment was not successful. From July 2020, the maximum amount for instant payments will be €100,000.

Chaired by the ECB, in 2014 the Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) identified the need for a pan-European instant euro payment solution. In April 2016, EBA Clearing started the SCTINST project with more than 40 large European banks involved. In November 2016, the European Payments Council (EPC) published the SCTINST scheme and SCTINST rule books version 1.0 while the ERPB provided the governance model. In November 2017, EBA Clearing completed the pan-European instant payments infrastructure, RT1.

In 2024, about 50% of all IBAN-based payments in Belgium were processed intra-day, or even immediately, inside of the same bank group. Potential first use cases for SCTINST in Belgium may include P2P, mobile banking apps, online payments, and B2B.

As of June 2025, 2,765 banks from 36 European countries had registered for the SCTINST scheme. This represents 78% of all SCT scheme participants.

In March 2019, a platform developed and run by the French company STET enabled the processing of instant payments. Although the technical platform supporting instant payment processing and settlement is technically separated from the existing automated clearing house and has specific features (e.g. settlement based on pre-deposited amounts held by the system on a technical account in TARGET2), it is integrated into the existing automated clearing house as an additional functionality and not as a new system.

In many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.

Most Belgian banks offer online bank credit transfer services (e. g. Belfius Direct Net, ING Home’Pay, KBC/CBC Online, MyBank, iDEAL). Pre-requisite is the registration of an electronic banking account with the bank. Bank transfers are sometimes initiated offline but can also be conducted through one of these mono-bank online bank payment methods. Often, Belgian banks offer IBAN-based online payments services integrated in the individual mobile banking app, the card-less Payconiq app, and/or through MyBank.

Other payment initiation service providers (PISPs) offering online credit transfers include Klarna’s German-based SOFORT (D), Inpay (DK) and iDEAL (NL). In addition, Slimpay (F) offers online direct debit services in the country.

In March 2014, Worldline expanded its online platform with online Klarna’s credit transfer service SOFORT.

In November 2018, Paysafe (UK) announced the expansion of its payment by online bank transfer solution, Rapid Transfer, for Skrill and Neteller customers in the Netherlands and Belgium. The latest country additions bring its total availability to 15 countries.

In 2024, ECB reported 40 payment institutions and five AISPs licensed in Belgium. Authorised in another EEA member state, 362 cross-border PIs have provided notification of operating in Belgium under the EU passport system.

Mybank – MyBank is an IBAN-based online payment solution that allows bank customers across Europe to pay for their online shopping by using their own bank account. The MyBank button redirects internet shoppers to their online or mobile banking platform, where they can pay by confirming a SEPA Credit Transfer order that already has all the details filled in. MyBank, which is owned and managed by EBA Clearing subsidiary Preta SAS, is available to over 40 million retail customers in Italy, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and Greece. MyBank supports the initiation of SEPA Credit Transfers via online or mobile banking. From October 2014 on, the solution will also enable customers to create, modify and cancel electronic mandates for SDD direct debits.

In July 2014, Belgian KBC Bank joined the MyBank initiative. In June 2015, KBC launched MyBank eMandates for corporate customers, a solution that allows for authorising electronic mandates for the payment of recurrent bills or online purchases via SEPA Direct Debits. Merchants and public authorities across Europe will be able to replace paper mandates with this efficient new solution. Moving to an electronic process that informs the bank of the debtor about the signing of a mandate in real-time reduces costs and the time required to collect funds. In addition, KBC will on-board their merchants and corporates. In May 2015, ING Belgium selected Worldline to implement the eMandates function from MyBank, in order to process SEPA Direct Debits.

By end-2021, goods and services worth more than €15 billion (2020: €14 billion, 2018: €10 billion, 2016: €1 billion, 2015: €650 million) have been paid for with MyBank payments in SCT format since its launch. Amounts paid with MyBank range from €2 to €400,000 and cover a wide range of use cases from B2C and B2B to payments to public administration. On average more than €19 million is transacted via MyBank every day. The number of licensed merchants was more than 10,000, while the number of participants is 210 banks and payment service providers.

In September 2022, PRETA, the owner and manager of MyBank, opened up its centralised interface, the MyBank Gateway, to payer payment service providers (payer PSPs). With the enhancement of its interface, which was launched in 2019 for payee PSPs, PRETA intends to facilitate the onboarding of payer PSPs and enable A2A payments across Europe by easing their integration into MyBank through a direct connection model using a new set of APIs.

Starting from August 2023, MyBank e-payment solution have been made available to account holders at Axa Bank, ING, KBC, KBC Brussels, Belfius, bpost Bank.

Payconiq – Payconiq is a card-less and terminal-less payment initiative with offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Hasselt, and Luxembourg. Payconiq, the 2014 brainchild of the ING innovation lab, was founded in Amsterdam. Payconiq is a mobile payments service for online, in-app, in-store and direct payments supported by a coalition of banks in Belgium and the four leading Dutch banks – ING Bank, ABN AMRO, Rabobank, and De Volksbank.

Payconiq has thrived under the wings of ING’s innovation hub. In September 2015, ING Belgium acquired the Belgian digital loyalty outfit Qustomer. In July 2016, ING Belgium and KBC launched a mobile payment and loyalty platform in Belgium that combines ING’s Payconiq mobile payment app with loyalty platforms Qustomer and CityLife in a single service. In December 2016, Belfius Bank joined ING and KBC in the development of a common mobile payment and loyalty platform built on ING’s Payconiq mobile payments app. Belfius says it would integrate Payconiq into its digital platform Citie, developed in partnership with bpost and Proximus. In June 2020, Belfius and Proximus formed a strategic partnership to open up their own digital platforms to each other’s clients. Under the deal, Proximus clients would get access to Belfius’ online banking availability, offering entirely digital and cash-free payments. in return, Proximus will develop a special package of applications for Belfius clients. Belfius said it would update its banking app to take advantage of the new possibilities. In December 2019, Proximus reached an agreement with KBC bank to allow KBC clients to consult their Proximus account via the KBC app, and to receive a discount on purchases from a Proximus store.

In August 2017, Payconiq acquired the mobile payments outfit DIGICASH (L). In September 2017, Payconiq relocated its headquarters to Luxembourg. In March 2018, Payconiq announced its merger with Bancontact, the Belgian domestic debit card scheme organisation (see below).

From January 2018, Payconiq allowed users to simply pay online and in-stores directly from their account by scanning a QR-code. Consumers can already pay at over 60,000 merchants in Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Payconiq launched a mobile pilot project in Germany in 2018.

However, in January 2018, ABN AMRO decided to leave the Payconiq initiative and decided to further expand the functionality of its own payment request app, Tikkie, to retail and business clients.

In December 2020, Payconiq announced it would roll out interoperable mobile payments across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg after Payconiq and its Digicash unit integrated their platforms. In 2021 Digicash by Payconiq was rebranded simply as Payconiq.

In September 2022, Payconiq and Bancontact Payconiq released an app-based digital meal voucher in Belgium. Available in the Payconiq by Bancontact app, Belgian users of Edenred, Monizze and Sodexo can pay with their meal vouchers on mobile phones. The solution, already launched in Belgium and to follow in Luxembourg, makes the acceptance of in-store meal voucher payments possible without needing a POS terminal.

In November 2023, the European Payments Initiative (EPI) announced the successful closure of the acquisition of the Dutch payment solution iDEAL and the Luxembourg technology provider Payconiq International as announced earlier that year. This marks a significant milestone for EPI’s strategy to deliver a unified instant payment scheme and platform for Europe. The completion of these acquisitions further supports its ambition to become a leading player in the European payments landscape, an ambition that has been hampered by arguments and delay.

In early 2024, EPI was licensed by the ECB to provide payment initiation and account information services in keeping with the requirements of the Second Payment Services Directive (hereinafter “PSD2”). The payment initiation and account information services to be offered by EPI under its PISP/ AISP 5 licence are in addition to those it provides as a four-party payment scheme.

Advanced Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.

In selected Belgian online shops, the wallets PayPal, Skrill, Alipay are offered as payment means.

PayPal – PayPal is present in Belgium. As of end-2024, PayPal reported 434 million active customer accounts globally, up 2.1% from 426 million in 2023. This consisted of 398 million customer active accounts and 36 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.68 trillion (up from $1.53 in 2023) and customer engagement grew to an average of 60.6 transactions per active account, driving 3% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2024.

During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.

In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as PayPal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.

In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.

In 2023, PayPal is exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut costs and focus on high-growth business areas – as of November 2025, PayPal had not completed the sale. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.

In 2023, PayPal launched its own US dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.

In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalised offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations, and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalized cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.

In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.

In 2025, PayPal significantly enhanced its offerings for small businesses by introducing PayPal Open, a unified commerce platform that consolidates all of PayPal’s merchant solutions into a single interface. This platform provides small businesses with access to a comprehensive suite of tools, including payment processing, financial services, and AI-driven insights, all designed to streamline operations and foster growth.

Amazon Pay – was introduced in 2007. The payment service enables Amazon customers to checkout at participating third-party merchant sites using their Amazon credentials.​

Launch Date: Amazon Pay first launched in August 2007 as “Pay with Amazon,” later expanding globally and adding features for third-party merchant acceptance.​

Functionality: All active Amazon customers can use their Amazon credentials for checkout at partnered merchants—Amazon Pay is available in 18 countries as of October 2024.​

Global Usage: Over 50 million customers have used Amazon Pay for purchases worldwide, with a large share coming from Amazon Prime members, but recent statistics indicate over 3.2 billion transactions processed in 2025 and 600,000+ merchants accepting Amazon Pay as of June 2025.​

Prime Share: More than half of Amazon Pay users are Amazon Prime Members, matching your note on demographics.​

Market Impact: By the end of 2025, Amazon Pay accounts for approximately 6% of the global online payment market, processing an estimated $85 billion in payments.​

Expansion: Amazon Pay experienced 20% growth in mobile usage and 13% total transaction growth from 2024 to 2025.​

Merchant Share: SMEs comprise around 70% of all merchants using Amazon Pay.

Digital Payment Services

In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in the case of contactless payments at POS terminals.

In October 2013, Worldline inked a partnership with Mastercard and integrated the digital wallet MasterPass into the Worldline platform. In June 2015, Buy Way (formerly Cetelem Belgium) launched MasterPass in Belgium.

As of mid-2025, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was available, replacing the previous MasterPass and VISA Checkout services respectively. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover, and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.

Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Belgium are processed as payments on contactless cards.

Global contactless transaction values are projected to reach approximately $15.7 trillion by 2027, up significantly from around $4.6 trillion in 2022, driven by widespread adoption of contactless mobile and card payments. Contactless mobile and wearable payments are expected to grow by over 220%, while contactless card payments will increase by approximately 119% in the same period.

Contactless ticketing spend is forecasted to surge by more than 400% globally between 2022 and 2027, with mobile NFC ticketing powered by OEM wallet solutions such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay playing a critical role in enabling seamless transit and event ticketing across multiple markets.

By 2027, 99% of all smartphones are estimated to support contactless payments, up from 94% in 2022, with average contactless transaction values roughly $28.20 for Apple Pay and $33.40 for Google Pay. Digital wallets—including PayPal, Apple Pay, and Alipay—represent the majority of global mobile payments. Mobile wallets accounted for around half of global e-commerce payment transactions as of 2022 with approximately 2.8 billion users worldwide, nearly half concentrated in Asia-Pacific, led by large markets such as China, India, and Southeast Asia.

In North America and Europe, mobile payments increasingly overlap with broader “alternative payments” encompassing all non-cash, non-card payment methods, reflecting shifting consumer preferences towards convenience and digital-first financial experiences.

Overall, the global contactless payment market is witnessing rapid growth driven by technology advances, expanding wallet usage, and evolving consumer behaviours, signalling a transformative shift towards universal cashless and contactless commerce by the end of the decade.

Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2022 and now sits at 785 million users worldwide at end 2024.

This payment method is also available in over 85% of US merchants and 60% of stores globally.

As of August 2024, the estimated total Apple Pay in-store sales now sit at $268 billion, up from $213 billion last year.

As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 5.6% of all in-store purchases globally, global transaction volume (2025 estimate) is $7.6 trillion.

In the US its Apple Pay users are measured as ~63.9 million (2025 forecast), with in-store U.S. retail sales via Apple Pay sitting at ~$268 billion (as of August 2024).

Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.

As of mid-2025, Apple Pay was supported by 61 banks and payment providers in Belgium.

Google Pay current data shows around 820 million active users across 45 global markets.

In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains “Google Pay.”.

In the US, Google Pay has over 165 million users.  Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor. Google Pay ranks 3rd among mobile payment methods globally. In Russia, it has an online usage distribution of 35.18% and has recorded approximately 1,281,838 transactions online. Available in 19 countries, 30% of Google Pay’s active users are millennials. It is one of Canada’s top 5 online payment apps and is the primary mobile payment method for 2,193 businesses worldwide. In India, Google Pay boasts 67 million active users and holds 36.10% of the mobile application market. Its widespread adoption and significant market share highlight its growing importance in the global digital payment landscape.

In March 2017, Google Pay launched in Belgium with support for Mastercard and VISA credit cards from BNP Paribas Fortis, Hello bank! and Fintro, with debit cards issued by the three banks and CBC/KBC. The mobile payment service is available at all retail locations — including Carrefour, McDonald’s, Media Markt and H&M — that accept contactless payments.

Google Pay is available in Belgium through 55 banks and payment providers as of mid-2025.

Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 150 million users. Samsung Pay works with a broad range of Samsung Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22 and newer models, as well as many previous models like the Galaxy S8.

Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe and EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards. In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.

Samsung Pay is now available in Belgium as of February 2025. Samsung launched its digital wallet app, Samsung Wallet (which integrates Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass), for Galaxy users in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg starting February 7, 2025. The service allows Belgian users to make mobile payments, store digital keys, boarding passes, and more on supported devices. However, initial rollout requires compatible Samsung Galaxy devices (such as the Galaxy S25 series and updates to One UI 7 for older models), and acceptance by Belgian banks and merchants may vary in the early stages.

Overview of Cashless Payments

(See Chart – Overview of Cashless Payments 2024)

Credit transfers were traditionally the dominant payment instrument in Belgium. However, credit and debit card usage has overtaken since 2005. In 2014, NBB changed its statistical reporting by including most credit transfers and direct debits.

In 2024, card payments accounted for 58.16% of all cashless payments compared to 55.85% across the EU. They showed a 11.44% growth rate in the last five years. Credit transfer (30.27%) is the other significant cashless payment instrument in Belgium, in terms of both volume and value.

Direct debits (7.97%) are used for recurring payments and utility payments. Cheque use (0.01%) is marginal. Cheques are used for one-off, high-value payments such as property purchases.

In 2024, there was a high level of 561.8 cash-less payments per capita, up 8.22% from 2023. They were composed of 338.9 card payments per capita, 176.4 credit transfers per capita, and 46.5 direct debits per capita.

3 - Cashless Payment Transactions in Belgium
(millions)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Payment cards 2,516.3 2,813.2 3,248.3 3,634.6 4,015.6 4,475.0 10.48%71.88%11.44%
Cheques issued 0.5 0.4 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.4 -16.61%-38.09%-9.14%
Credit transfers 1,754.6 1,916.8 1,823.7 1,948.5 2,090.3 2,177.6 7.28%22.71%4.18%
Direct debits 546.1 544.0 531.5 531.1 550.5 530.4 3.65%4.47%0.88%
Total 4,852.3 5,317.0 5,820.3 6,345.0 6,904.7 7,183.5 8.82%49.23%8.34%
Total card payments per capita218.1242.8278.1308.5338.9377.69.83%66.65%10.75%
Total cheques issued per capita0.00.00.10.10.00.0-17.10%-39.98%-9.70%
Total credit transfers per capita152.1165.4156.1165.4176.4183.86.64%18.97%3.54%
Total direct debits per capita47.347.045.545.146.544.83.04%1.29%0.26%
Total cashless payments per capita417.5455.2479.8519.1561.8606.28.22%41.31%7.16%
Note: payment card figures include e-money transactions, totals include other payment services.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Exchange Rates

Belgium joined the euro system and adopted the euro as its currency on 1 January 2002. The exchange rate of the Belgian franc (BEF) against the euro was irrevocably fixed at 40.3399 BEF per €1.00.

Market Infrastructure

The Belgian government passed a law on 24 March 2017 regarding the oversight of payment transactions processors, the Bank’s enforcement of oversight standards and requirements regarding card schemes and their processing. This law has transferred the oversight of payment systems into hard-law based oversight for systemically relevant payment processors. Some requirements of this Law concerning the obligations of those processors as well as of card payment schemes (CPSs) associated with them have been taken up in a regulation issued by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB). These requirements cover the due diligence that CPSs must conduct when using the services of systemically relevant payment processors, identification and management of risks taken by those processors, continuity of their services and practical arrangements for notification in the event of an incident. The regulation adopted by the NBB in November 2018 had to be incorporated into a Royal Decree in order to enter into force. This Royal Decree was published on 19 February 2019.

Since May 2020, the Mastercard Clearing Management System (MCMS) operated by Mastercard Europe (MCE, established in Belgium) has been designated as a fourth systemically important payment system (SIPS) with a pan-European reach, based on a number of mainly quantitative criteria. As such, MCMS is subject to the joint lead oversight of the ECB and the NBB.

In May 2021, at the end of the initial 12-month guidance period, the NBB and the ECB started the official Eurosystem assessment of the MCMS’s compliance with the SIPS Regulation. In addition to the existing reporting of incidents, more formal exchanges between the Eurosystem and MCE were initiated from Q4 2021 and were intended to develop further from the early months of 2022. In October 2024, the ECB launched a public consultation on a proposed recast of the SIPS Regulation, indicating a policy updating process to its oversight architecture. The draft recast is to integrate several amendments to the original regulation and include new provisions on cyber and outsourcing risks. The draft recast SIPS Regulation was subject to public consultation from 18 October until 29 November 2024. The comments, suggestions and contributions collected from market participants and the industry will be analysed and may give rise to changes to the text, with the aim of finalising it in 2025.

As of 2024, Belgium had 48 payment institutions (PIs) and electronic money institutions (EMIs). In 2023, 1 new licence was granted to a payment institution, namely Bancontact Payconiq Company NV. A single payment institution was registered as offering account information services. In 2024, two institutions were licensed as payment institutions and one electronic money institution’s licence, three were withdrawn due to consolidation at group level.

In November 2021, the Eurosystem published a new oversight framework designed to foster improvements in the soundness and efficiency of electronic payments. This new oversight framework for electronic payment instruments, schemes, and arrangements (PISA Oversight framework) is based on the internationally agreed Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI). It is now the benchmark for Eurosystem oversight of payment instruments, schemes, and arrangements, and replaces the former standards used by the Eurosystem.

The PISA oversight framework was designed with the objective of addressing technological developments in the payment industry. The framework itself is complemented by an assessment methodology and an exemption policy, aimed at identifying schemes and arrangements of a certain importance and level of risk based on specific criteria relating to the size of the user population, market penetration in terms of value, and volume and geographic relevance. Only those schemes and arrangements will have to comply with the requirements of the framework. In Belgium, this concerns Mastercard Europe and Bancontact. Like all companies that are already subject to Eurosystem oversight, both card payment schemes were expected to adhere to the principles of the new framework by 15 November 2022. The conformity of the relevant entities with the framework will be assessed by the Eurosystem from 2023 on.

Mobile Payments Platform SIXDOTS

In December 2014, the mobile payments platform SIXDOTS went live with multiple banks in Belgium. Customers of 9 banks representing 80% of the Belgian market could make use of SIXDOTS, a mobile wallet service that uses a combination of QR-codes and a six-digit PIN to make payments in stores, online and P2P between friends. The service was available for both iOS and Android and was a joint venture of BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC/CBC, ING, Belfius, Fintro, Record Bank, bpost Bank, and ‘Hello bank!’ in partnership with mobile network operator Proximus and the domestic Bancontact card scheme.

SIXDOTS said, thanks to the six-digit code, and because no data was stored on the smartphone, security was guaranteed. Card details were no longer stored in the merchant’s database when making online or in-app payments. The service could be used at merchants that had activated the Bancontact mobile service in the Bancontact app. From March 2017, SIXDOTS was transformed into the Belgian Mobile ID platform.

Belgian Mobile ID Platform

In May 2017, four Belgian banks and three mobile network operators unveiled a mobile ID platform, “itsme”, that let consumers use a single digital identity to access a range of services such as requesting government documents and confirming online transactions using the SIM card on their mobile phone and a unique five-digit code. The service is compatible with all SIM cards across the country.

The Belgian Mobile ID consortium — comprising Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC/CBC, ING, Orange, Proximus and Telenet — rolled out the itsme service on a “gradual” basis. It was initially available with a range of companies including Bolero, ClearMedia, Doccle, EnCo, Randstad and Rombit. The itsme app was aiming to replace the laundry list of passwords, usernames, tokens and card readers Belgians need to use the Web.

Users simply download the app and when carrying out a task on a participating website that requires some form of security, enter a five-digit code. The app checks the code, as well as the actual handset and its SIM card to identify the user.

Launched earlier in 2017, the app could be used by ING customers to sign into their accounts and approve transactions. By end-2017, Belgians were expected to use itsme for government services, including submitting tax returns. A number of insurance companies and retailers were expected to join.

In June 2018, Signicat, the digital identity provider, partnered with Belgium Mobile ID to integrate the Belgian itsme digital identity scheme into the Signicat Digital Identity Platform.

In 2020, the Belgian Government renewed its official authorisation for the itsme app to be used as a secure authentication tool for the Federal Authentication Service (FAS). As of 2020, for every 10 Belgians who used the government’s online services, five accessed them with their electronic eID card and four with the itsme digital ID app,

Between 2019 and 2020, according to official figures released by the Federal Public Service Strategy and Support (BoSa), the FAS saw the number of authentications increase by 86%, if all access methods to all government applications are taken into account. In total, over 2020, more than 2 million Belgians authenticated themselves to online government services with itsme. On average, each of these people used the Belgian itsme app more than 21 times to access government applications. More than 3.2 million Belgians now use itsme to identify themselves online, with 40% of working Belgians having an itsme account to identify themselves online, confirm digital transactions and sign documents electronically.

By 2025, the Flemish Government secured funding to provide free itsme access for all public sector entities through 2029, entrenching its place as a core part of Belgian digital defences.

Bancontact Payconiq Company

In 2006, the Bancontact-Mister Cash Company (BC-) – the association responsible for the BC/MC scheme brand & license – was established during the MC sale of Banksys which had managed the payment schemes BC/MC (now: Bancontact) and Proton up to that point. Shareholders of the new BC/MC scheme association were AXA Bank, Belfius Bank, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC, each holding a 20% stake. In April 2016, the BC-MC company was rebranded as Bancontact Company.

In March 2018, Bancontact announced its merger with the Dutch/Belgian mobile payment app, Payconiq. The new Bancontact Payconiq Company was established on the initiative of five Belgian banks: AXA Bank, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC.

The key product of Bancontact Payconiq Company is a single mobile payment app, which combines the Payconiq app with the scope of the Bancontact app. In 2024, more than 60,000 merchants across Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands were connected to Payconiq’s plug-and-play platform.

SIX became the second Bancontact processor – In June 2018, Worldline SIX Payment Services extended its current agreement with the Bancontact Company.

In May 2012, BC-MC, the BC/MC card association, and SIX Payment Services (CH/L) signed a contract regarding the processing of the BC/MC card transactions. Under the terms of this agreement SIX Payment Services would be responsible for the switching of BC/MC transactions. The agreement covered software development and processing services over several years. The core requirements included switching, clearing and settlement services. BC-MC said that the new BC/MC switch infrastructure would be live mid-2013 and as of then BC-MC would welcome new members, i.e. also international participants be invited to take part in the BC/MC scheme. BC-MC also said that the old technology had disappeared completely by mid-2014.

The Bancontact Card Scheme

In 1977, Générale Bank and Crédit Communal de Belgique (CCB) launched MisterCash, Belgium’s first ATM network. A year later, Banque Bruxelles Lambert (BBL), Kredietbank and ASLK-CGER launched the Bancontact ATM network. Subsequently, payment terminals were installed in service stations, hypermarkets and supermarkets. In 1987, the MisterCash and Bancontact networks were made interoperable and in 1989 they were merged to become the Bancontact/Mister Cash debit card scheme (BC/MC). In April 2016, the BC/MC card scheme was rebranded as Bancontact.

Bancontact debit cards (previously branded BC/MC) have used Chip and PIN, since 1994-97. They are offered to cardholders as part of banks’ current account packages. Bancontact cards are mainstream in Belgium and have been co-badged Maestro since 2000-1. Acceptance of Bancontact cards includes the channels: face-to-face, vending machines, internet, QR-code initiated, mobile payment app and MOTO.

Until the end of February 2015, the Proton card function on Bancontact cards had been used as an electronic purse in Belgium. The new Bancontact contactless function has replaced Proton.

Geo-Blocking – In order to further secure the use of debit cards, most Belgian banks configured the Maestro function of the MB/MC cards for restricted use in the European region from 2011. In case cardholders wish to use their debit cards outside of Europe, then they need only notify their bank before their travel ensuring that their card will be accepted across the world. The measure has been taken to fight online Maestro card fraud.

As of 2023, the Maestro function on Bancontact cards was phased out in favour of Debit Mastercard cards co-badged brand. Belgian banks ceased issuing new Maestro cards in July 2023, replacing them with Debit Mastercard co-badged with Bancontact. Existing Maestro cards will remain valid until their expiration dates, with a complete transition expected within five years, concluding by 2028.

Mobile Bancontact HCE NFC payments – In October 2017, Bancontact launched mobile HCE NFC payments to the general public. Bancontact mobile app users with an Android smartphone can make mobile payments without a PIN for payment values below €50 with just a tap at contactless POS terminals.

Bancontact mobile app – In May 2014, the Bancontact mobile app for smartphones and tablets was launched after an extensive test, with customers of 16 Belgian banks already on board. The Bancontact mobile app was based on the SIXDOTS platform of the Belgian banks. However, it is now replaced by the Bancontact Payconiq app.

In 2016, 5 million transactions were carried out using the Bancontact app. More than 20,000 retailers and other merchants accept payments made with the Bancontact payments app. From 2016, the Bancontact app lets cardholders link up to five cards from the same or differing Belgian banks to make or receive payments.

In June 2017, the Bancontact scheme opened up its Bancontact payment app to users of Tricount, an app that makes it easy for friends to share the bill between themselves.

In January 2019, Bancontact Payconiq Company released the joint payment app – Payconiq by Bancontact – combining the benefits of the former individual Bancontact and Payconiq apps. In September 2019, Bancontact Payconiq partnered with Viva Wallet to enable mobile payments in a further 100,000 merchants across 17 European countries.

In 2024, the number of mobile payments made using the Payconiq by Bancontact app or banking apps that offer the Bancontact or Payconiq solution rose further to 471 million, which was 28% more than in 2023. Around 2 million Belgians use the Payconiq by Bancontact app to make a mobile payment. Mobile payments made between friends rose by 15% to 70.4 million in 2024, compared with 2023. In 2024, there were more than 1.35 billion contactless Bancontact payments, compared with a little over 31 million in 2018. In 2024, 70% of all card payments using Bancontact were contactless. In 2024, the number of payments made with Bancontact and Payconiq rose by 4.5% compared with 2023, with a total of 2.5 billion payments.

The Payconiq payment platform is set to transition to a Bancontact and Wero payment platform following its acquisition by EPI. By 2026, the Payconiq brand will no longer exist, to be replaced by another brand name. This means that, while the trusted payment app and popular payment solution for merchants will remain in place, it will now operate under a brand-new name.

Bancontact card figures – Bancontact continued to be the market leader in Belgium with 19 banks. In 2024, there were 18 million Bancontact cards and 2.5 billion Bancontact transactions. Bancontact acceptance points amounted to over 548,663 locations as of 2022, including POS terminals, ATMs and online shops.

European Payments Initiative (EPI) – In July 2020, a group of 16 major Eurozone banks announced the start of the implementation phase of a new unified payment scheme, the European Payment Initiative (EPI).

In 2021, the 31 founding bank groups from seven European countries and two third-party acquirers had included:

In March 2022, EPI gave up on its effort to build a rival to Mastercard and VISA in Europe after more than half its members left. However, 13 shareholders confirmed on February 25th that they remain convinced of the strategic value of a unified payment solution, leveraging instant payments, and want to go ahead. Therefore, the EPI interim company is now adapting its scope and objectives to this new dimension excluding cards.

The remaining shareholders of EPI include Banco Santander, Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband, Groupe BPCE, ING Bank, KBC Bank, La Banque Postale, NETS (NEXI), Société Générale and Worldline.

In April 2023, the European Payments Initiative acquired the Dutch payment scheme iDeal and, the mobile payments app, Payconiq, both supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks.

In July 2024, EPI launched its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payment solution, Wero, for customers of German Sparkassen and Volksbanken, Raiffeisenbanken.

Since its launch in July 2024, Wero has expanded its availability across Europe. By June 2025, the service had been introduced in Germany, France, and Belgium, with plans to extend to Luxembourg in June 2026 and the Netherlands in 2027. The wallet has gained significant traction, reaching approximately 70 million users by September 2025, with 43.5 million active users across the three initial countries.

In Belgium, major banks such as Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, and KBC have integrated Wero into their offerings.

The ambition of EPI is to create a unified pan-European payment solution leveraging Instant Payments, SCTINST, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet, and P2P payments.

The solution aims to become a new standard payment service for European consumers and merchants in all types of transactions including in-store, online, cash withdrawal and “peer-to-peer” in addition to existing international payment scheme solutions.

EPI’s objective is to offer a digital payment solution that can be used anywhere in Europe and to supersede the fragmented landscape of domestic payment services that currently still exists. In doing so, EPI founders are responding to merchant and consumer communities that have been calling for payment initiatives to take a more pan-European approach.

EPI will first and foremost benefit European citizens, and it will also bring tangible benefits to European merchants, by offering them a seamless, competitive, and unified pan-European payment service solution that is also available to all European consumers.

The beginning of the implementation phase is expected to materialise through the creation of an interim company in Brussels, Belgium, which will set out clear deliverables including the completion of the technical and operational roadmap and initiating the implementation work. The accomplishments of this interim company will be evaluated by each bank before moving on to the EPI’s final corporate structure.

Wero – In September 2023, EPI has selected ‘Wero’ as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet solution. The Wero digital wallet will be rolled out in phases, initially to support account-to-account based instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments. EPI aims to launch Wero by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, and Germany, followed by the Netherlands, and aims to extend to other countries in the years to come. By November 2024, Wero had reached ~14 million users and processed ~8 million transactions in the live markets (Germany, France, Belgium) since its launch in July 2024.

As of September 2025, Wero has rapidly expanded its user base, reaching 43.5 million registered users across Germany, France, and Belgium. In Germany alone, approximately 1.3 million users are utilizing the service through Sparkassen banks. The platform has processed over €7.5 billion in transactions, underscoring its growing adoption.

In December 2023, EPI completed its first instant A2A payment transaction in a proof-of-concept between customers from German Sparkasse Elbe-Elster and French Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne (Groupe BPCE). The inaugural transaction, worth 10 euros, was sent from a German account to a French account using SCTINST and the EPI’s digital wallet.

European Digital Payments Industry Alliance (EDPIA) – In May 2020, Ingenico Group, NETS, Nexi, and Worldline announced the launch of an EU advocacy alliance of Europe’s leading independent payment services providers. EDPIA’s vision is for Europe to become a global leader in digital payments, which can fuel the completion of the Digital Single Market for the benefit of consumers, businesses, and the public sector. It will do so by engaging in EU policy discussions impacting the EU payments sector, and by helping bring frictionless instant payments closer to EU citizens, businesses, and public bodies.

EDPIA said to believe in a strong and properly enforced European policy framework enabling intense competition between transparent market-based solutions competing for the trust of payment services users. In August 2020, Italian payment processor SIA became a member of EDPIA.

Worldline and EquensWorldline in Belgium

Belgian banks consider card processing as non-core business and focused on issuing cards. Thus, they delegated in 1986/89 the debit card processing business to interbank organisation Banksys and credit card processing to interbank organisation BCC. Banksys and BCC were sold to AtosOrigin (now: Atos) in 2006 and were merged in 2007 under the Atos Worldline brand (now: Worldline).

With the advent of SEPA, the Belgian banks recognised that Banksys/BCC needed a partner to provide European coverage and disposed of both interbank organisations. In December 2006, Banksys and BCC (incl. a 49% stake in card processor SiNSYS) were sold to AtosOrigin (now: Atos) and were merged under the Atos Worldline brand (now: Worldline) in 2007. The major selling shareholders (Dexia, Fortis, ING and KBC) committed to use the Worldline services for an undisclosed period.

Atos (F) took control of Banksys, the Belgian banks’ interbank company, in 2006. Worldline, the electronic transactions processing subsidiary of Atos, operates the Belgian electronic payments network. Banksys has been retained as a POS terminal and encryption modules brand and BCC (Bank Card Company) as a payment network brand (see Appendix for BCC and Banksys background). Worldline services taken over from Banksys’ and BCC’ business roles include:

Atos Worldline rebranded as Worldline – In July 2013, Atos (F) completed the carve-out process of its global payment and transactional activities announced in February 2012. Operational since July 2013, Worldline combines in one entity the payment and transactions activities of Atos to form a European leader. With revenues of €4.63 billion in 2024, Worldline now operates with a global reach and employs 18,112 employees worldwide. Following the acquisition of SIX Payment Services at the end of 2018 and Ingenico at the end of 2020, merchant services is the largest global business line of the group, representing 73% of 2024 revenues.

In September 2021, Worldline unveiled its new brand identity. The Group’s brands will be operating under one clear banner – Worldline – and previous brands will now be known as Worldline. Several brands, including equensWorldline, SIX Payment Services, Bambora and Paymark, will be retired. Worldline’s joint ventures brands such as PAYONE and Ingenico for the POS terminal device business will remain.

Worldline Business Transformation 

In 2024, Worldline processes all debit card transactions in Belgium as well as most credit card transactions. Based on the BCC credit card side, Worldline partners with Belgian banks to issue VISA and Mastercard credit cards for small- and medium-sized Belgian banks and manages a loyalty scheme, ‘Epargnez&Cueillez’ (Save&Pick, see Appendix).

Worldline also provides merchant acquiring services; originally confined to Belgium, these have been extended into the Netherlands and Luxembourg since the Banksys takeover.

As an example of the type of cross-border activity, which was impossible under bank ownership before, in 2008, Worldline developed a multi-acquirer solution for a major petroleum company, whose payments and loyalty programmes it manages. Transactions conducted using national, international, private, fuel and loyalty cards are sent to five different central systems in Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

Reporting on its Belgian activities, Worldline said it processed 1.2 billion transactions in Belgium in 2009. Of these 897 million were debit card purchases, an increase of 7% on 2008. With an ATV of €49, the total value of debit payments in 2009 was €44 billion. Credit card transactions processed by Worldline in Belgium rose 5.1% to 129 million in 2009. With an ATV of €100, the total value of credit card payments in 2009 was €12.9 billion. ATM withdrawals through the network were little changed at 111 million. From 2010, Worldline Group gave no subsequent update on Belgian figures, but provides key figures of its European acquiring and processing capabilities (see Table 4).

Worldline Expansion 

In June 2014, Atos sold around 29.53% of its shares in Worldline by IPO. After the IPO, the majority stake of Atos in Worldline accounted for 70.34%. In November 2015, Worldline signed a memorandum of understanding with Equens (NL). A transformational deal for Worldline, providing the enlarged Worldline Group a highly comprehensive pan-European footprint, with leading positions and offerings in key geographies (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and the Nordics). Under the terms of the agreement, the transaction closed by end-September 2016 and was made of two components:

In September 2016, Komerční Banka (CZ) and Worldline (F) signed an agreement to form an alliance for payment card acceptance. The new partnership will provide merchant acquiring and payment processing services to retailers under brand name KB SmartPay across Czechia.

Under the terms of the agreement, Worldline has acquired, as a first stage, 80% of Cataps, a 100% subsidiary of Komerční Banka (KB), based on an enterprise value of €34 million for 100%. Cataps was established in 2014 and has assumed activities of KB merchant acquiring and acquirer processing services. As part of the agreement, Worldline and KB have signed a 10-year commercial acquiring alliance in the Czech Republic (see Czech Republic profile).

In June 2017, Worldline acquired 100% of the share capital of Digital River World Payments (DRWP), the PSP from Digital River, a global provider of Commerce-as-a-Service solutions. Worldline integrated DRWP in Worldline’s Merchant Services Global Business Line. The transaction closed in Q4 2017.

In July 2017, Worldline acquired 100% of the share capital of First Data Baltics (FDB) for €73 million. With the acquisition of FDB, Worldline entered into the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian markets. The transaction closed end-September 2017.

In May 2018, Worldline acquired the whole card payment business of Swiss-based SIX Group in a deal which valued the unit at $2.75 billion. Under the terms of the transaction, SIX Group received a 26.88% stake in Worldline, while Atos retained its majority 51% share in the business. Over 1,300 employees of SIX Payment Services in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Poland, and other locations in Europe, became part of Worldline’s organisation after deal closure in December 2018.

In July 2018, Worldline obtained two new licenses from the NBB enabling the company to become a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) and an Account Information Service Provider (AISP). These licenses were immediately extended to the other countries in the European Economic Area.

In November 2018, Worldline announced a partnership with Bitcoin Suisse to enable cryptocurrency payments in-store and online. Two weeks later, also in November 2018, Worldline announced an expansion of its deal with AliPay to enable acceptance of Alipay payments in Europe. A similar deal was struck at the same time with WeChat Pay.

In September 2019, Worldline completed the acquisition of the 36.4% minority stake in EquensWorldline. Worldline exercised on July 24, 2019 its call option on the 36.4% minority stake in EquensWorldline, representing the final step of the Equens acquisition initiated in 2016 and allowing taking full ownership of EquensWorldline. The call exercise price was €1,070 million for the remaining 36.4% stake and was financed by a €600 million convertible bond issued on July 25, 2019 and a € 500 million bond issued on September 11, 2019. Thanks to the very attractive terms of these two bond emissions, the overall financing of the acquisition had a negative cost for Worldline.

In early 2019, Worldline-shareholder Atos (F) announced it would distribute around 23.4% of the share capital of Worldline. According to its project, Atos would retain around 27.4% of Worldline’s share capital. As a consequence, Worldline’s free float would increase from currently 22.3% to around 45.7% with SIX-Group 26.88% for the balance. As of December 2024, SIX Group held 10.5%, Credit Agricole held 7%, Bpifrance held 5.0%, Worldline held 0.5%, and senior executives and employees held 0.9% with a free float of 76.1%.

Bpifrance deploys support and capital for French entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategic technologies, especially artificial intelligence, blockchain, sustainable development, and digital infrastructure.

In 2019, the Global Business Lines of Worldline include Merchant Services & Terminals (in Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, India, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Slovakia, United Kingdom, and the Baltic and Nordic regions), Financial Services (in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands and Taiwan), and Mobility & e-Transactional Services (in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Chile, France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom).

At end-2024, Worldline was active in nearly 40 countries with revenues of €4.6 billion. As a result of both organic growth and the acquisitions mentioned above, at end-2024, Worldline served around 1,448,000 merchants in Europe with more than 1,618,000 points of sale. In 2024, in Europe, Worldline acquired 1.01 billion web-based transactions worth $74.65 billion.

In September 2020, Worldline received regulatory approval for its acquisition of France-based payment solution provider Ingenico. This latest acquisition has positioned Worldline as the largest payment services provider in Europe and the fourth largest worldwide, serving nearly one million merchants and 1,200 banks and financial institutions globally. The merger of the two companies will provide a wider range of digital payment capabilities through integrated payment solutions, improved technology, and enhanced innovation capabilities.

In November 2021, Worldline completed the divestment of a limited portion of merchant-acquiring businesses in Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg as part of the clearance from the European Commission in the context of Worldline’s acquisition of Ingenico.

In October 2022, Worldline announced the completion of its Terminals, Solutions & Services (TSS) business line to Apollo Funds, as part of Worldline’s efforts to focus more on core payment services. The standalone company will now operate exclusively as Ingenico.

In 2022, Worldline also signed a multi-year deal with ING to extend their partnership. Following this agreement, Worldline will handle debit and credit card issuing and processing for ING across multiple countries, starting with the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Under the extended agreement, ING is outsourcing Issuing Processing operations to Worldline.

4 - Worldline Key Figures
Worldline Processing20202021202220232024GR 23/24
Cards in issuer processing (m)126.0125.0126.0126.0156.023.81%
Card transactions processed (bn)11.40 12.1 12.0 12.0 12.0 0.00%
- thereof ATM/POS payment transactions (bn)9.509.9 11.0 11.0 11.0 0.00%
- thereof remote payment transactions (bn)1.702.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.00%
POS terminals in network worldwide (000s) 2,4002,5002,5002,5002,5000.00%
SEPA transactions in CSM processing (bn)13.5013.6013.8013.8013.800.00%
Worldline Merchant Services20202021202220232024GR 23/24
Merchants serviced1,035,7251,159,6731,247,0001,403,0001,448,0003.21%
POS terminals serviced as acquirer1,126,9521,290,9341,588,0001,573,0001,618,0002.86%
Acquired transactions (m)3,888.45,255.66,737.07,500.08,080.07.73%
- thereof in Belgium (m)525.0839.81,068.21,172.21,278.29.04%
Payment transactions value in Belgium (€bn)28.9040.4640.4644.4048.419.04%
Note: processing figures up to 2015 include Equens on European level; figures from 2016 are for EquensWorldline.
Note: Worldline Merchant Services figures for 2018 include Worldline SIX Payment Services volumes.
Note: Worldline Merchant Services figures for 2021 include the consolidation of Worldline with Six Payment Services, Paysquare, Bambora, Ingenico, Axepta, and Handelsbanken. The Payone joint venture with the DSV Group is included. Worldline holds 60% of that joint venture and the DSV Group holds 40%. Bancontact, Girocard and Pagobancomat figures (3.44 bil., $181.83 bil.) are not included in that total.
Note: Wordline Merchant Services figures for 2022 include the consolidation of Worldline with Six Payment Services, Paysquare, Bambora, Ingenico, Axepta and Handelsbanken. The Payone joint venture with the DSV Group is included. Worldline holds 60% of that joint venture and the DSV Group holds 40%. Bancontact, Girocard, and Pagobancomat figures (4.13 bil., $187.26 bil.) are not included in that total.
Source: NBB, Worldline, Nilson Report, EquensWorldline.

Card Issuers – Overview

Belgian banks issue contactless credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards, and corporate cards.

Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients, and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.

Belgian banks do not report the individual number of cards issued, but they issue all types of cards. 20 Belgian banks issue Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro for POS/online use, and eight banks have embedded apps integrating Bancontact functionality in their own apps. KBC, CBC and ING also have the Payconiq functionality integrated in their own app. Other banks issue Maestro debit cards. All Belgian retail banks issue credit cards (Mastercard, VISA) and prepaid cards.

Until 2014, Diners cards were issued by Diners Club Benelux owned by Beobank. Also, Alpha Card and Diners Club Benelux issued through partners. JCB cards and V PAY cards are not issued by Belgian banks.

From 2020, American Express Payments Europe will be the sole issuer and acquirer of American Express cards in Europe, including Belgium where American Express cards are issued through AlphaCard, (owner: American Express). However, American Express Payments Europe will continue its local sales partner arrangements with local acquirers enabling the use of American Express cards at ATMs and POS terminals.

Leading card issuers in are BNP Paribas Fortis, Belfius Bank, KBC Group, ING Belgium, and BNP Paribas Personal Finance Belgium. Other major issuers include Beobank, bpost bank, Crelan Group, and International Card Service (NL). In May 2017, AirPlus International (D) bought BCC Corporate, the Mastercard and VISA corporate card business unit from AlphaCard Group (B). Eurobank and Keytrade Bank are subsidiaries of Crelan Group. In November 2019, Crelan agreed the purchase of AXA Bank Belgium, making Crelan the fifth biggest bank by assets in the country.

Table 5 illustrates the card brands issued by the leading Belgian card issuers as of mid-2025.

5 - Leading Card Issuers in Belgium
Domestic IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
BNP Paribas FortisMastercard, VISA, American Express; Bancontact, Apple Pay, VISA DebitBNP Paribas Group (F)
Belfius Bank Mastercard, VISA, Diners; BancontactState owned (B)
KBC Bank / CBC BanqueMastercard, VISA; BancontactKBC Goup (B)
ING BelgiumMastercard, VISA; BancontactING Bank Group (NL)
BeobankMastercard, VISA; BancontactCrédit Mutuel du Nord Europe (F)
bpost Bank Mastercard; Bancontact JV BNP Paribas Fortis (B) + bpost (B)
Crelan Bank VISA; BancontactCrelan Group (B, F)
Europabank Mastercard, VISA Crelan Group (B, F)
Keytrade BankVISA, American Express; BancontactCrédit Mutuel Arkea (F)
Deutsche Bank BelgiumMastercard; BancontactDeutsche Bank Group (D)
Argenta Mastercard; BancontactArgenta Group (B, NL, L)
VDK Spaarbank VISA; BancontactVDK Spaarbank (B)
other issuer banksMastercard, VISA; Bancontact---
BCC Corporate (B)Mastercard, VISA 2017: AirPlus International (D)
International Card Services (NL)Mastercard, VISA ABN Amro (NL)
Consumer Finance IssuersIssued Card BrandsOwned by
AXA Bank Mastercard, VISA; Bancontact2019: Crelan Group (B, F)
Buy WayMastercard, Aurora Apax Partners, Altair Amboise
Cofidis MastercardCrédit Mutuel (F); ArgoSyn (CH)
Note: Europabank and Keytrade are subsidiaries of Crelan. In November 2019, Crelan agreed to purchase AXA Bank Belgium for €540 million.
Source: PCM research

Outlook – By mid-2025, Belgian card issuers face the following notable challenges:

Card Processors and PSPs

In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).

In Belgium, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use in multiple channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store mobile payments in the future).

Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services. Usually, ATM/POS network processing is part of acquirer processing while payments on the internet are routed by specialised e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs) to the card acquirers and independent payment service providers (e.g. PayPal), respectively.

Until end-2013, all Bancontact card transactions were processed by Worldline which also has a strong presence as issuer processor for credit cards servicing the smaller Belgian card issuing banks. From 2014, SIX Payment Services is the second Bancontact processor.

In November 2018, Elavon reported that it is the new acquirer processor for bpost that handles 6 million payment transactions per year at around 650 post offices serving the entire Belgian territory.

Worldline (formerly EquensWorldline) is the leading card processor in Belgium. It manages the ATM/POS network infrastructure, and it offers card processing and issuer services to issuers in Belgium and in Europe. Also, Worldline acts as acquirer processor in the petrol sector of the Benelux region.

Other card processors active in Belgium include Fiserv (formerly First Data (UK)), Nexi (formerly SIA) (I)), Elavon (IRL), and EuroP3C (F), the processor of Beobank.

Trionis and First Data – First Data offered processing services also through its Belgian joint venture with Eufiserv, Trionis. From 2015, Trionis operated a gateway to the JCB payment network. The Trionis JCB gateway functioned as an easy access point and a message format conversion.

In July 2019, Fiserv completed the purchase of First Data for $22 billion in an all-stock transaction. The companies said users would benefit from a “highly complementary combination” that offers a range of payments and financial services, spanning account processing and digital banking, integrated payments and the Clover POS system, among other products and services. Fiserv is one of the world’s largest payments and financial technology providers.

SIA absorbed SiNSYS – In September 2012, Italy’s processor SIA struck a deal to buy Atos Worldline’s 49% stake in SiNSYS, giving it full ownership of the Belgian card processing company. Financial terms were not disclosed. Established as a joint venture (SIA, SSB, Banksys, Interpay) in 2003, SiNSYS is located in Brussels, Milan and Utrecht. Operating in 12 European countries, SiNSYS is said to have a portfolio of 30 million cards, 700,000 merchants and 1.0 billion transactions processed. SIA and Atos have also struck a long-term contract for the provision, through SiNSYS, of card-related processing and technology services. In 2013, SiNSYS integrated into SIA as regional hub based in Brussels.

In October 2020, Italian payment processor Nexi announced its acquisition of SIA to create a pan-European payment giant, with over 2 million merchants, 120 million cards, and an overall number of processed annual transactions equal to more than 21 billion. The combined entity will serve 15 countries.

Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs) 

Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.

Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.

PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.

Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.

In June 2014, Ogone, became part of the Ingenico Group (see Appendix). Like in other European countries, the cross-border acquirers and foreign PSPs are also active on the internet in Belgium, e. g.:

In July 2017, the Dutch mobile service provider CM Payments acquired the Dutch payment institution and PSP Docdata from owner Ingram Micro.

Major PSPs Active in Belgium (2025)

Other Notable PSPs, E-Money Institutions, and Processors

myPOS – In December 2018, Bancontact Payconiq Company and the payment provider myPOS enhanced their partnership agreement, providing myPOS clients with a new way of accepting online payments. All myPOS clients can now accept online payments made with Bancontact cards through myPOS online services such as PayButton, PayLink, and myPOS Checkout.

myPOS and Bancontact Payconiq Company started a partnership in early 2017, when all myPOS devices across the EEA started accepting payments made with Bancontact cards. This allowed myPOS merchants in Belgium and travelling consumers across Europe to receive and make payments using one of their preferred payment methods.

In November 2020, myPOS launched its new Soft POS solution myPOS Glass, enabling business to take contactless card payments directly on Android smartphones. It does not require additional hardware or cables to turn the phone into a payment terminal. myPOS Glass accepts all types of credit, debit and prepaid Mastercard and VISA cards, as well as wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. myPOS Glass allows the acceptance of payments at a value higher than the contactless payment limits. The myPOS Glass app is available for download in Google Play for the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary and Bulgaria, with more markets to follow.

Acquiring and Acceptance

In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually act on a European level and offer their services cross-border.

Additionally, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).

Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they may operate their own PSP processing platforms, or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).

From 2009, European acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border on a European level, and cross-channel at POS terminals and also servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.

By mid-2025, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants may include cards, IBAN-based payments (SCT, SDD), online wallets, digital wallets, prepaid products, and immediate payments.

Outlook – By mid-2025, acquirers in Belgium face the following notable challenges:

Belgian banks also considered credit card acquiring as non-core business and focused instead on issuing of cards. Thus, they delegated the acquirer business in 1986/89 to interbank organisation Bank Card Company (BCC, former Crédit Européen Belgium). BCC was sold to Atos Worldine in 2006 and was merged with Banksys in 2007 under the Atos Worldline brand (see Appendix).

Accepted brands include Bancontact, Mastercard, VISA, Maestro, Debit Mastercard, Electron, VISA Debit and V PAY. American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB and UnionPay are the other accepted brands at selected merchant locations on demand only. The acceptance of contactless cards started in 2012.

The Belgian acquirers sign multi-brand acceptance contracts with the merchants.

Leading acquirers in Belgium are Worldline, Europabank and European Merchant Services (EMS), the joint venture of Dutch ABN AMRO and First Data.

In 2013, Swiss-based SIX Payment Services arrived on the Belgian market, offering a complete range of acquiring services. Since September 2014, it also accepts payments on Bancontact cards in collaboration with BNP Paribas Fortis, the partner of SIX Payment Services (2019: new owner Worldline) in Belgium.

Worldline is the leading Bancontact acquirer. In October 2015, Adyen (NL) became the fourth Bancontact acquirer. From March 2016, MultiSafePay was the fifth Bancontact card acquirer followed by iCard (BG), and PAYNXT. In 2018, Pay.be and PPRO Group (UK/D) became Bancontact acquirers.

Worldline and Europabank are the V PAY acquirers. The licensed JCB acquirers in Belgium include Worldline, Adyen (NL) and the cross-border acquirers. American Express acquires its own cards.

Cross-border acquirers active in Belgium include PAYONE (D), Concardis (D), Elavon Merchant Services (IRL), Ingenico Payment Services (F), and WorldPay (UK).

In 2018, Concardis (D) became part of NETS Group (DK). From 2019, PAYONE (D) is a joint venture between the French Ingenico Group 52%) and the German savings banks association DSV Group (48%) (see Germany profile).

In 2021 BNP Paribas Fortis cited the creating of its acquiring specialist Axepta as giving it a unique position as a bank-acquirer in the Belgian market and further stepped up its investment in merchant payment services with the acquisition of Ingenico’s card payment processing and terminals in Belgium and Luxembourg, which was concluded in November 2021. Following the Ingenico deal, BNP Paribas Fortis claimed 30,000 active merchant clients linked to 38,000 POS terminals and is aiming to grow its volume to a market share of 15% in Belgium.

Table 6 illustrates the card brands accepted by the acquirers in Belgium as of mid-2025.

6 - Leading Acquirers in Belgium
Domestic AcquirersAcceptance Brands offeredOwned by
Worldline (B)Mastercard, VISA, Diners, Discover, JCB, UnionPay;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY; Bancontact		Worldline Group (F)
Europabank (B)Mastercard, Debit Mastercard, VISA, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY Crelan Group (B)
European Merchant Services (B)Mastercard,VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY, Bancontact		JV ICS (NL) + First Data (US)
BNP Paribas Fortis (B)Mastercard, VISA, JCB;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, Electron, V PAY; Bancontact		BNP Paribas Group (F)
Foreign AcquirersAcceptance Brands offeredOwned by
Adyen (NL)Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, UnionPay;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, V PAY, Electron; Bancontact		Private ownership (NL)
PAYONEMastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, UnionPay; MasterPass
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, V PAY, Electron, girocard, giropay, BlueCode		Worldline (F):60%. DSV Group: 40%
ConCardis Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, UnionPay;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, V PAY, Electron, girocard, giropay; Alipay		NEXI Group (I)
Elavon Merchant Services Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, UnionPay;
Debit Mastercard, VISA Debit, V PAY, girocard 		U.S. Bancorp (US)
Note: In 2016, Worldline sold the existing PaySquare merchant contracts in Belgium to BNP Paribas Fortis (B).
Source: PCM research

In July 2011, Ingenico-owned German acquirer Easycash expanded into Belgium through the acquisition of part of the assets of BTG, a Belgian ISO (Independent Sales Organisation). With this transaction, Easycash purchased a POS terminal estate. In addition to POS related services, Ingenico Payment Services offers POS related services and card acquiring services to Belgian merchants.

Also, in July 2011, German acquirer B+S Card Services (now: PAYONE) expanded in Belgium through the acquisition of part of the assets of Hypercom France S.A. in Belgium. With this transaction, B+S services around 8,000 POS terminals located at small and medium merchants in French and the Flemish language including acquirer services.

In May 2017, BNP Paribas Fortis (B) acquired the business activities of PaySquare in Belgium. BNP Paribas Fortis took over the management of PaySquare’s merchant portfolio in Belgium. Clients of PaySquare in Belgium received a letter from BNP Paribas Fortis explaining their transfer for the transactional part of card payments to SIX Payment Services and the fact that SIX Payment Services would process the payments. In practice, the former Belgian PaySquare merchants enjoy the same tariff conditions as before.

In June 2017, Stripe (US) launched its service ‘Managed Accounts for Stripe Connect’ in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and in the Netherlands. In May 2016, Stripe (US) launched its service in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.

Dynamic Currency Conversion – The acquirers Worldline, Concardis, Elavon and EMS offer DCC services with guaranteed exchange rates and no commission (currencies: e. g. USD, GBP).

Payment Institutions

In 2024, there were 40 payment institutions resident in Belgium (2023: 37, 2022: 30, 2021: 30, 2020: 37, 2019: 30, 2018: 20, 2017: 17). Further, a total of 607 payment institutions authorised in another EEA member state have provided notification of plans to operate in Belgium under the EU passport system, of which 10 payment institutions have a physical presence in Belgium through a branch, and 11 operate through an agent. Most of the institutions report payment services taking the form of remittance businesses.

ATM Terminal Infrastructure 

Worldline processes the Banksys ATM network while the four leading Belgian banks operate their own ATM terminal hubs. All Belgian bank ATM networks are interoperable – linked since 2007 through the Banksys network operated by Worldline.

ATMs are located in bank branches, at petrol stations, and retail locations. Few independent white label ATMs are serviced in Belgium. Bank services offered are cash withdrawal, account statement, and credit transfer. The EMV migration of ATM terminals achieved 96% at end-2011 and has been complete since end-2012.

Belgian ATM terminals are open for debit cards (Bancontact, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, VISA Debit, V PAY, Electron, Plus) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, and JCB). UnionPay cardholders can withdraw cash at selected ATMs, e.g. PNB Paribas Fortis.

NBB has renewed its statistical reporting in 2014. Therefore, ATM use showed a significant fall in 2014. It is believed that ATM cash deposits are no longer included in the ATM cash withdrawals statistic.

The lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in cash withdrawal trends. According to NBB, in 2024, there were 3,637 ATMs (-11.14%) with 129.29 million cash withdrawals (-2.29%) with a total value of €25.83 billion (+1.17% from 2023) giving an average of 2,962.4 transactions per ATM per month. The ATV per cash withdrawal amounted to €199.79.

7 - ATMs and Cash Withdrawals in Belgium
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
ATM Terminals6,4335,2564,6994,0933,6373,176-11.14%-49.24%-12.68%
Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month2,186.42,484.52,643.82,694.12,962.43,316.59.96%-4.66%-0.95%
Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m)168.78156.70149.08132.32129.29126.39-2.29%-51.61%-13.51%
- on domestic cards (m)164.04151.61144.46127.60124.17120.83-2.69%-51.75%-13.56%
- on foreign cards (m)4.745.104.624.725.125.568.50%-47.96%-12.24%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)29.0227.9927.1225.5325.8325.921.17%-30.61%-7.05%
- on domestic cards (€bn)27.9726.9626.0724.4624.6624.860.81%-31.39%-7.26%
- on foreign cards (€bn)1.051.031.041.071.171.069.50%-8.75%-1.81%
ATV per cash withdrawal€171.93€178.59€181.89€192.96€199.79€205.093.54%43.38%7.47%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Belgium557.5453.6402.3347.5306.9268.0-11.67%-51.05%-13.31%
# ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total685.3678.8642.2642.2642.2605.60.00%-25.42%-5.70%
Note: With the rollout of the shared ATM network, Batopin, the total numer of ATM terminals has declined significantly.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Shared ATM network Batopin – In January 2020, Belgium’s big four banks (Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING and KBC) joined forces to set up an integrated network of bank-neutral ATMs that aims to accommodate changing consumer behaviour towards the use of cash. Through the creation of the ‘Belgian ATM OPtimalisation INitiative’ (Batopin), they have started building a new shared ATM network infrastructure.

All four banks want to create smart distribution of ATM devices that offer smart accessibility and at the same time significantly increases the opportunity to make cash deposits. Any bank with an ATM network in Belgium can join the initiative.

In December 2020, Belgium’s big four banks called in vendor Auriga to manage their new network of bank-neutral ATMs. Auriga will be providing complete end-to-end management of the new ATM network, including software development and management, maintenance, security and other managed services, including monitoring, transaction processing, cash management and asset management.

The Batopin ATM network will replace the bank’s individual ATM networks. In September 2021, Batopin announced the launch of its first 6 Batopin ATMs with a further 700 planned for a total of around 2,000 ATMs in the network, which will guarantee that 95% of Belgians have an ATM within five km of their home. By the end of 2021, Batopin deployed 56 ATMs on 28 locations. On 22 November the NBB presented a study that forecasts that 98.79% of the population will have access to an ATM within 5 km in 2025 (against 98.66% in 2020).

Cash-advance Services in Belgium – Competition for ATMs 

In an Open Banking ecosystem, the dominant role of ATMs for cash withdrawal services may decline as more cash-advance and cash handling services are offered at retail outlets in Europe.

Cash in-Store – In parallel to ATM cash withdrawals on cards, the Belgian banks support cash-advance services on cards at POS terminals in retail outlets (see below).

Background ATM network – In July 2005, the big four Belgian banks began to introduce shared network facilities across their ATM networks, with a view to making the new system fully operational from January 2007. Previously, their ‘Selfbank’ ATMs were open only to their own customers, with Banksys managing a shared network on behalf of smaller banks. The big four accepted Bancontact transactions from all cardholders, with fees between themselves and users determined by the individual banks.

Worldline is responsible for managing transactions on behalf of the smaller banks, for fraud prevention and for certain other shared functions.

Independent ATM networks – Few independent white label ATMs are serviced in Belgium. In September 2011, YourCash, an independent ATM service provider, and Equens (NL) launched a new ATM service in non-bank locations throughout Belgium. In May 2012, YourCash said it had pledged to install 200 GPRS enabled lobby style ATMs in stores of supermarket chains (e.g. Intermarché). YourCash reported 6,000 ATMs deployed in UK, NL and B.

In January 2016, VocaLink (UK), the payment systems processor owned by Mastercard, signed a three-year contract with YourCash (UK) to manage more than 1,000 ATMs in the Netherlands and Belgium. VocaLink, who already worked with YourCash and over 4,000 of their ATMs in the UK, was responsible for ATM processing, dynamic currency conversion, settlement management and reporting.

In October 2016, Euronet Worldwide announced it completed the acquisition of UK-based ATM operator, YourCash Europe Limited. The acquisition included approximately 5,000 ATMs across the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, and Ireland. YourCash generated about £29.0 million revenues in 2015.

As of 2024, Euronet owned and operated about 55,000 ATMs and provides processing services to 777,000 POS terminals worldwide.

POS Terminal Infrastructure

The Belgian acquirers operate their own POS networks in the country. All Belgian POS networks are historically interoperable; and linked through Worldline (previously Banksys). Dutch POS terminal service provider CCV and PAYONE Payments Europe (owner: Worldline since 2021) operate their own POS concentrator hubs which also connects Belgian terminals with Belgian acquirers. EMV migration of POS terminals has been completed since end-2011.

The Belgian POS network is used by credit cards and a range of proprietary (mainly fuel) cards, as well as debit cards. With online authorisation of debit card transactions and PIN verification at POS, Belgian card payments have among the lowest fraud rates in the world.

Belgian POS terminals are usually connected to the ECR devices and to the corresponding acquirer bank contracted by the merchant. POS terminals are located in retail outlets, petrol stations, vending machines and public transport locations.

Belgian POS terminals are open for debit cards (Bancontact, Maestro, V PAY and Electron) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, and JCB). In May 2019, UnionPay signed an agreement with Worldline to enable 46,000 merchant locations in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to accept UnionPay cards, increasing UnionPay’s overall acceptance rate in these three countries to 90%. Through this deepened partnership between UnionPay International and Worldline, UnionPay’s acceptance rate in Belgium will grow substantially to 90% from 50%. Meanwhile, the POS terminals newly enabled via this partnership will also accept UnionPay mobile QuickPass, which enables UnionPay cardholders to make contactless payments by tapping their mobile phones.

Cash-advance services (‘cashback’) at Belgian POS terminals are commonly used in many retail stores. Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) and Tax Refund services are offered at selected tourist locations.

In September 2015, retailer Carrefour Belgium announced to roll out contactless POS terminals in its 747 stores by end-2015. As at end-2024, there were 258,302 contactless POS terminals in Belgium according to the ECB.

POS payments have grown significantly in recent years. The NBB reported 265,838 POS terminals (-7.69% over 2023). In 2024, there were 2.34 billion POS payments on cards (+10.72%) with a total value of €85.84 billion (+9.56% from 2023) giving an average of 733.3 payments per POS terminal per month. The ATV per POS payment amounted to €36.69.

8 - POS Terminals in Belgium
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
POS terminals273,972300,220323,514287,985265,838272,765-7.69%13.73%2.61%
Ø Number of TXs per POS per month561.8589.6502.6611.4733.3778.719.95%10.09%1.94%
Number of POS payments (m)1,846.992,124.241,951.262,112.842,339.432,548.8410.72%25.20%4.60%
- on domestic cards (m)1,773.262,001.751,584.791,686.731,827.781,839.898.36%3.36%0.66%
- on foreign cards (m)73.73122.48366.47426.12511.65708.9520.07%410.75%38.56%
Value of POS payments (€bn)74.9183.5673.2978.3585.8489.349.56%8.97%1.73%
- on domestic cards (€bn)71.6378.3760.8864.2569.6868.888.44%-5.60%-1.15%
- on foreign cards (€bn)3.285.2012.4114.1016.1720.4714.67%225.13%26.59%
ATV per POS payment€40.56€39.34€37.56€37.08€36.69€35.05-1.05%-12.97%-2.74%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - Belgium23,743.725,911.627,697.624,446.922,433.623,018.1-8.24%9.67%1.86%
# POS Terminals per 1m capita - EU27 total31,503.734,817.044,815.544,815.544,815.548,528.80.00%48.89%8.29%
Source: ECB, NBB.

Though the number of POS terminals has grown steadily, network density (46.50%) remains well below EU average (see European overview section in chapter on acquiring and acceptance). Worldline noted in the past that fewer Belgian retailers are equipped with a POS terminal than in France and northern Europe and estimated that in total around 240,000 mobile terminals could be sold or leased to tradesmen like plumbers or to cafes and small shops. In addition, healthcare professionals are a largely unexploited market.

MPOS Terminals – Small and mobile merchants have started to use their smartphone and tablet PCs as a kind of mini-POS+ECR device with added chip reader dongle. In late 2012, Square clones like Zettle, Sumup, Miura, and others launched their MPOS services in Europe. Further, merchants can initiate MOTO like card payments on their smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.

In September 2013, Payleven launched its MPOS terminals in Belgium. It is known that Belgian merchants also demand MPOS terminals. Among others, Dutch PSP Adyen launched its MPOS terminal services in Belgium.

SmartPOS Terminals – In 2018, POS terminal vendors launched innovative new types of POS terminals. Named SmartPOS terminals, they combine the electronic cash register functionality (ECR) used by merchants in outlets with a contactless POS payment terminal and merchant services in the cloud. For the very first time, the so far separated ECR devices and POS terminals are integrated in just one checkout solution device. From late 2018, SmartPOS terminal vendors like Castles, Clover, Justtide, Handpoint, PAX, Poynt, Verifone, Worldline, and others have launched their SmartPOS devices and services in Europe. It is believed that Belgian SME merchants will embrace SmartPOS terminals.

Zervant – In June 2016, Finnish e-invoicing solution provider Zervant struck a white label deal with ING Bank Belgium. Zervant claimed over 150,000 users in its core markets of Finland, Sweden, Germany, France and the UK. Its mission is to provide simple and intuitive invoicing software to freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners.

The deal enables ING Belgium to acquire the rights to rebrand Zervant’s invoicing software, which is used by small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Europe, for use as ING invoice solutions. During the first phase, ING Belgium will have the rights to sell the tool in Belgium, with a potential opening to other entities in the ING Bank group.

In October 2022, after completing the sale of its POS division, Worldline announced the closing of the acquisition of 55% of the capital of SoftPos.eu, which transforms Android mobile devices into secure payment terminals. The acquisition is part of Worldline’s strategy to provide payment solutions adapted to all forms of commerce and move towards a more advanced POS terminal business. On the back of SoftPos.eu, Worldline will launch Worldline Tap on Mobile, an end-to-end solution, based on an Android app, allowing all merchants of all sizes to accept payments using a smartphone, tablet, or a professional terminal.

In October 2022, Samsung teamed up with Mobco and Viva Wallet in Belgium to offer small and large merchants a secure mobile payment solution, the Viva Wallet POS app. The app, co-developed with Samsung, allows merchants to turn their smartphones into mobile POS terminals. Since July 1, 2022, Belgian regulations say that merchants need to offer at least one electronic payment solution to their customers.

Remote Payments on the Internet – Cards & More

Belgium is a growing e-commerce market in Europe with an avid online shopping population. From 2015, due to EU VAT regulation, Belgian merchants will have to collect the applicable VAT rate for cross-border sales based on the consumers’ residence.

Internet Use – In 2024, 96% of Belgians used the internet, and 76% of all internet users purchased in online shops in the last 12 months. 62% of Belgians purchased from neighbouring EU countries, mostly from the Netherlands, France, and Germany, but also from the USA and the UK. Online buyers purchase using PCs, notebooks, tablets, or smartphones. Thus, remote payments are initiated from various types of internet capable devices. It is noted that 92% of Belgians also accessed the internet via mobile devices and 40% made online purchases using tablets or smartphones.

During 2020, over 20,000 new online merchants were registered with over 90% accepting Bancontact cards.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to over 200,000 first-time online shoppers in 2020. One in 3 online purchases were made using a smartphone, but computer laptops are the most popular device for online shopping, used for 45% of all e-commerce purchases.

According to domestic retailer associations, the Belgian online B2C e-commerce value of goods and services accounted for €17.40 billion in 2024, up by 6.75% from 2023. The average B2C e-commerce expenditure per capita amounted to €1,468.4 while it was €1,854.8 per online buyer.

9 - Internet Use in Belgium
202020212022202320242024FGR 22/23GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Households with internet access91%92%94%94%95%95%0.15%5.13%1.01%
Last internet use (individuals, 12 months)92%94%95%95%96%97%1.05%5.49%1.08%
Internet users who bought online79%80%79%79%79%79%0.28%9.15%1.77%
Last online purchase (individuals, 12 month)73%75%75%75%76%77%1.33%15.15%2.86%
Last online purchase (individuals, 3 month)65%66%66%65%66%69%1.54%20.00%3.71%
Mobile phone subscriptions per 100 population99.7%101.1%101.9%103.0%104.0%105.0%0.97%4.01%0.79%
Online B2C e-Commerce revenue (€bn)10.2612.0914.7016.3017.4018.406.75%112.45%16.27%
Annual B2C eCommerce growth rate/year25.3%17.8%21.6%10.9%6.7%5.7%−−−
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per capita €889.2€1,043.5€1,258.5€1,383.7€1,468.4€1,552.76.12%104.87%15.42%
Ø B2C e-Commerce amount per online buyer€1,120.6€1,307.8€1,594.2€1,752.7€1,854.8€1,956.15.82%87.69%13.42%
Note: e-Commerce figures have been restated
Sources: Eurostat, ITU.

Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Belgian online shops in the case that the merchant signs an acceptance contract accordingly. Also, the Belgian banks issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only. Since 2009, online payments with Maestro cards have been introduced. In addition, online buyers can use their Bancontact debit card to pay for purchases up to €500.

3D-Secure technology is applied when paying online with cards in online shops. Further, web-based mail order services for merchant-initiated payments and Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) are offered.

The e-Payment Mix in Belgium – According to NBB, credit cards, debit cards, online bank transfers, and wallets services are currently the preferred means for online payment.

Belgian banks have invested in mobile payment capabilities and mobile banking, both factors that should drive acceptance and usage of digital wallets. In addition, major international brands are using Belgium as a place to trial innovative digital payment options.

In total in 2024, Belgians made 382 million payments online via Bancontact or Payconiq, 19.7% more than in 2023 and as much as 10 times more than in 2018. In December 2024, 90% of all online payments were made with a smartphone, via Bancontact or Payconiq, another impressive rise compared to December 2020, when 78% of online purchases were paid for using a mobile.

Among others, the online payment services relevant for Belgian merchants include:

Remote Payments on the mobile Internet – Since 2010, online buyers with a high affinity for smartphones have started the use of their mobile phones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile phone payments are executed either by using the e-payment page of the mobile online shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.

Also, merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Belgian merchants are testing their own mobile apps including loyalty functions (e. g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning) and an IBAN-based direct debit payment function.

Belgian E-commerce Hub – In December 2018, Alibaba Group (CHN) signed an agreement with the Belgium government to launch an e-commerce trade hub. The project is part of Alibaba’s Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), and Belgium is the first European country to join the project, following similar agreements in Malaysia and Rwanda. eWTP is designed to help countries reduce trade barriers for e-commerce trade, including lowering or eliminating tariffs and speeding up customs clearance. As part of the deal, Alibaba’s logistics arm, Cainiao, will lease a 220,000 sqm logistics port at Belgium’s Liege airport and invest an initial €75 million in the project, which began operations in July 2021. The full build-out of the hub is scheduled for 2025.

Mobile Payments – Overview

In 2024, 104.0% of the Belgians have subscribed to a mobile phone. Many Belgians own more than one mobile phone and 84% own a smartphone (up from 34% in 2013). Also, tablet penetration (43%) grew significantly between 2013 and 2017 but has fallen back slightly since 2018 as smartphones became overwhelmingly popular, and tablets remained a shared device within the home.

Since 2009, the next generation of mobile services and payments has started, pushed by the online buyers’ high affinity to smartphones and tablets and also by new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE, and Near Field Communication NFC).

Mobile initiatives in Belgium are field testing and using new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e. g.:

The m-Payment Mix in Belgium – There are no official m-payment statistics, but PSP information indicates that the domestic m-payment mix is similar to the e-payment mix on the internet (see Remote Payments on the Internet section).

Mobile Payment Initiatives

In 2025, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into

Key Mobile Payment Platforms and Initiatives

Trends and Consumer Adoption

Central Bank Digital Currencies, Cryptocurrency Products 

In 2024, the Belgian payment ecosystem was composed of traditional cash payments, digital cryptocurrency products of independent payment service providers and research and development of central bank digital currencies, CBDC. The regulation of cryptocurrencies is becoming increasingly relevant as independent cryptocurrency products have grown more prevalent, posing challenges for regulators and national central banks.

In July 2023, the European Union introduced the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, which aims to standardize cryptocurrency regulation across member states, including Luxembourg. This regulation addresses various aspects of crypto assets, such as market integrity, consumer protection, and financial stability, while also promoting innovation in the sector. Under MiCA, crypto-asset service providers will have specific obligations to protect users’ wallets and mitigate investment risks.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) – The Digital Cash Challenge 

Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical banknotes and coins.

All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.

Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.

National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.

Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.

Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.

CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.

CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.

Background on CBDC Evolution

In October 2020, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features, identifying the foundational principles necessary for any publicly available CBDC to help central banks meet their public policy objectives.

The report focused on a publicly available “general purpose” CBDC (a digital payment instrument, denominated in the national unit of account, that is a direct liability of the central bank).

A “wholesale” CBDC, restricted to financial institutions, is also an active area of exploration, notes the report, for central banks but one that carries different opportunities, challenges, and risks. The report explored the use cases for, and challenges and opportunities arising from, the possible issuance of a general purpose CBDC.

In September 2021, the same seven central banks and the BIS followed up with the publication of a new set of reports exploring the potential of retail CBDCs, including policy options and practical implementation issues. While none of the central banks has yet decided to proceed with a retail CBDC, they recognise such an instrument would have wide-ranging implications. Delivering on the future needs of consumers would require systems that encourage innovation, choice and competition among a diverse mix of intermediaries.

BIS reported that a 2021 survey of central banks found that “86% are actively researching the potential for CBDCs, 60% were experimenting with the technology and 14% were deploying pilot projects.

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is piloting a ‘digital yuan’, known as e-CNY, in various cities, often in association with major sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics.

The ECB published a paper on the potential of a “digital euro” in October 2020, exploring the “benefits and risks” of such an initiative. It completed a public consultation in January 2021 and a series of focus groups in December 2021. Its investigation stage is expected to continue until October 2023, after which the ECB “will decide whether to start developing a digital euro.”

The US Federal Reserve reported in February 2022 that while it has made no decisions about “whether to pursue or implement” a CBDC, it was “exploring the potential benefits and risks of CBDCs from a variety of angles and was inviting public feedback on discussion papers.

The Bank of Japan said in October 2020 that it had no plans for a CBDC and was committed to maintain the cash system as long as there was public demand for it. It nevertheless intended to explore technical feasibility through a proof of concept, consider institutional arrangements and coordinate approaches with domestic and international stakeholders. In 2023, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it will begin a pilot for its digital yen with commercial financial institutions. In February 2023, Bank of Japan has embarked on a CBDC trial.

In June 2023, the BIS and BoE said they completed a CBDC pilot project involving CBDCs jointly run by the Bank of England (BoE) and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). Project Rosalind was designed to explore how a “universal and extensible API layer” could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and enable retail CBDC payments. The project also sought to develop a number of retail-CBDC use cases.

According to the BIS and BoE, the project has successfully demonstrated that “a well-designed API layer could work with different private sector applications and central bank ledger designs and that a set of simple and standardised API functionalities could support a diverse range of use cases”.

In all, the project led to the development of 33 API functionalities and examined 30 retail CBDC cases including peer-to-peer transfers, retail payments for goods and services and small-value business transactions.

While CBDCs are still in experimental phases across major economies, 2024 has seen increased momentum towards real-world implementation, with several countries, notably China and the ECB, moving closer to full-scale rollouts. Public-private collaboration, technological innovation, and privacy concerns remain central to future CBDC development. Central banks worldwide continue to balance innovation with maintaining public trust and financial stability in this rapidly evolving space.

Global Status of CBDCs 

Most National Central Banks (NCBs) are involved in different stages of a CBDC project. Especially, the NCBs have different views on which kind of CBDC they would intend to launch as a digital currency:

As of 2023, the global CBDC status reveals that four central banks – Nigeria (e-Naira), Eastern Caribbean (D-Cash), Jamaica (JAM-DEX), and the Bahamas (Sand Dollar) – have introduced a domestic CBDC scheme.

Six countries have launched a CBDC pilot: France, Canada, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Ghana.

The NCBs of most other countries are involved in either a CBDC proof-of-concept phase – including Norway, Hungary, and Sweden – or they are still in a CBDC research stage.

So far, Ecuador is the only country that has cancelled its CBDC ambitions, Dinero electronico.

CBDC, the European Union and the Digital Euro

In July 2021, the Estonian Central Bank released a report about its experiment with the ECB and the central banks of Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the Netherlands to assess the functionality of the digital euro. The project was able to conduct 300,000 transactions per second, with an average rate of less than two seconds per transaction.

In June 2023, the European Commission (EC) has published its legislative proposal establishing the legal framework for a possible digital euro, stressing that the CBDC would be a compliment to, not replacement for, cash.

A digital euro would be available alongside existing national and international private means of payment, such as cards or applications. It would work like a digital wallet, with people and businesses able to pay with it anytime and anywhere in the euro area.

The digital euro would be available for payments both online and offline. While online transactions would offer the same level of data privacy as existing digital means of payments, offline payments would essentially be like paying with cash – with nobody able to see what people are paying for.

The digital euro would be distributed by banks and other payment service providers, with basic services provided to people free of charge. Merchants would be required to accept the digital currency unless they are cash-only firms.

The EC’s proposal still needs to be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council before the European Central Bank decides whether to roll out a digital euro. Notably, the European Central Bank (ECB) is involved in the preparation phase, which will run until 2025. During this time, technical experimentation and legal discussions are ongoing before any formal rollout decisions can be made​.

As of 2025, the digital euro remains in development but has advanced beyond its early investigation stage. The European Central Bank (ECB) concluded its two-year investigation phase in October 2023 and entered a two-year preparation phase that runs until October 2025. During this stage, the ECB is refining the design, engaging market participants, testing prototypes, and drafting a comprehensive rulebook.

In 2024, the ECB published two progress reports (in June and December) and a third one in July 2025, detailing technical work, design choices (e.g. offline use, calibration, holding limits) and collaboration with stakeholders. The most recent report included further refinement of the rulebook, more user research, and expanded experimentation. The ECB launched an innovation platform that invited private and public sector actors (banking, fintech, merchants) to test ideas, use cases, conditional payments, and prototype features. Around 70 market participants are reported to have been engaged.

On the legal side, the European Commission’s draft regulation for a digital euro is still under negotiation by the European Parliament and Council. Adoption of this regulation is essential before the ECB can issue the digital euro. ECB leaders, including Christine Lagarde, have called on lawmakers to accelerate this legislative process. By October 2025, the ECB has indicated a second phase of the preparation for the Digital Euro. By then, the ECB will have prepared an outreach plan, procurement standards, and technology providers.

CBDC and Belgium

Belgium is actively involved in the development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as part of the Eurosystem’s digital euro project. The National Bank of Belgium is participating in this initiative, which aims to create a digital form of the euro for retail use.

Key points about Belgium and CBDC:

  1. The European Central Bank (ECB) began preparations for a retail CBDC on November 1, 2023.
  2. A decision on whether to issue a digital euro is expected in November 2025, with a potential launch not before 2028.
  3. The digital euro would be a prefunded payment solution, with users holding it in dedicated wallets provided by intermediaries such as banks or payment service providers.
  4. Privacy will be maintained, as the ECB aims not to ‘know’ the debtor or creditor in the settlement process.
  5. The National Bank of Belgium is contributing to discussions on the rationale, building blocks, challenges, and key success factors of the digital euro project.

Belgium, as part of the Eurosystem, is also involved in exploring wholesale CBDC options. A separate working group, including the Bank of Italy, Bundesbank, and Banque de France, is focusing on interbank settlement of blockchain-based transactions.

This initiative is independent of the retail digital euro project. The development of a CBDC in Belgium and the Eurozone is driven by several factors, including the need to provide legal tender in digital form, maintain monetary sovereignty, and ensure financial stability in an increasingly digital economy.

In 2024, the NBB created a new unit within the bank, the Digital Euro and Payments Policy Unit, underscores the growing importance of this project to modernise the European retail payments landscape.

Pros and Cons of CBDCs

According to research by the Bank of England, BIS, and by several other central banks, the benefits of CBDCs include supporting increased innovation in the payment system with:

Possible challenges related to use of CBDCs could include:

The ECB commissioned multiple exploratory reports on the feasibility of a digital euro in 2020 and 2021. The ECB’s working paper suggests a two-tier system for a “general purpose” CBDC. In July 2021, the ECB announced that it would launch a 24-month investigation phase for the digital euro project, which aims to address key issues regarding the design and distribution of a digital euro. The investigation phase will include focus groups, prototyping and conceptual work. In February 2022, the European Commission announced that it will propose a bill that would serve as the legal foundation for the issuance of a digital euro by the ECB. In May 2022, Christine Lagarde stated that she would be willing to back the digital Euro. By June 2023, the ECB and European Commission had significantly advanced their legislative and technical work, moving closer to launching a pilot phase for the digital euro in 2024. The pilot phase is expected to assess the practical implementation of the digital euro, following the completion of the current investigation period​.

The working paper states that the use of CBDC for retail payments is the primary use-case for the development of a digital Euro. The paper also rejects the motivation of using CBDC as a store of value, which would involve consumers switching deposits from commercial banks into CBDC. The working paper also recommends that a CBDC should be interest-bearing, with attractive interest rates offered for smaller sums suitable for payments and lower rates available for larger amounts.

Cryptocurrencies EU

The regulation of crypto assets and related services across Europe is not standardised and is highly fragmented. While no nation has outright banned usage of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and others, regulators have not formed a consensus over how to legislate such a quickly fluctuating market, where new cryptocurrencies emerge faster than regulators can catch up to.

The current approach across Europe is to adapt existing legislations to encompass cryptocurrencies, however, this is unlikely to be efficient as consumer and business usage changes.

In the European Union, the fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5) covers certain crypto assets under the term “virtual currencies”, but it does not provide a harmonised approach. As a result, each Member State has created its own regulatory regime for transactions related to “virtual currencies” or crypto assets.

In response, the European Commission proposed the Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA) regulation in 2020 as part of the Digital Finance Strategy, with MiCA expected to come into force in 2022 and will be directly applicable in all Member States after an 18-month transition period. MiCA will result in a harmonised set of rules for products and services and legal certainty related to crypto assets throughout the European Union in 2024. This would enable a larger number of investors to be active in this area and to use distributed ledger technology (DLT).

MiCA is to apply to all persons who want to issue crypto assets or provide services related to crypto assets in the EU.

The MiCA proposal is intended to lay down uniform rules on transparency and disclosure requirements for the issuance, offer to the public and the admission to trading of crypto assets. In addition, there are rules on the authorisation and supervision of crypto asset service providers and their issuers.

The main focus lies with the issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens. The Regulation intends to regulate the operation, organisation, and governance of issuers of asset referenced tokens and e-money tokens and crypto asset service providers. There will also be investor protection rules for the issuance, trading, exchange, and custody of crypto assets. In addition, measures to prevent market abuse are to be included in the Regulation to ensure the integrity of the crypto assets markets.

In June 2022, the EU Council President and European Parliament reached agreement on MiCA regulation, ruling that crypto asset service providers will require authorisation to operate in the EU, not including NFTs or media-related digital assets.

Under the agreement, the regulatory framework will protect investors and consumers, while ensuring financial stability and enabling innovation and growth. The regulations will help protect consumers from fraud and scams, as crypto asset service providers will be liable if they lose assets and fail to protect investors’ wallets. The European Banking Authority (EBA) will form a public register of non-compliant crypto asset providers.

The regulation will also implement restrictions on stablecoins, with stablecoin issuers to be supervised by the EBA and their “holders will be offered a claim at any time and free of charge.”

Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background 

Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.

Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products, and they see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.

Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.

As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.

According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).

Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.

A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.

A recent report by Triple-A for 2024–2025 reports estimate cryptocurrency ownership in Europe has climbed to approximately 50 million people, up from around 30 million in 2023. Crypto adoption in Europe grew to 8.9% of the adult population in 2025, driven by greater institutional access, major regulatory changes (like MiCA), and clearer frameworks for exchanges and wallet providers. This keeps Europe’s ownership rate ahead of previous years, though still trailing regions like Asia and the Americas in terms of total share and growth rate.

In February 2022, the Belgian Royal Decree on the status and supervision of service providers for the exchange of virtual currency and fiat currency and custodian wallet providers (“Virtual Currency Royal Decree“) was published in the Belgian State Gazette. The Virtual Currency Royal Decree introduces registration requirements and operating conditions for virtual currency service providers into Belgian law. The Virtual Currency Royal Decree entered into force in May 2022, with a grandfathering regime for existing service providers.

Stablecoins

Stablecoins are a type of asset-backed cryptocurrency, whose value is typically pegged to the value of an underlying asset such as USD, GBP, or commodities like gold. Stablecoins are partially backed by real assets, and they are designed to have a value pegged to real-world assets, therefore avoiding the extreme volatility that affects cryptocurrencies.

Stablecoins offer the potential benefits of cryptocurrencies, like transparency, security, immutability, and decentralised control, while maintaining the guarantees and stability that come with using fiat currency. Stablecoins have potential to be used in cross-border payments, providing a secure, online environment for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions to take place without needing decentralised cryptocurrencies or to pay fees to convert money into local currencies.

As of mid-2025, there were more than 200 stablecoins globally, comprising a market that’s worth about $230 billion.

A survey of central banks in January 2021 found that two-thirds of respondents are actively researching the potential impact of stablecoins on financial stability. However, some regulators in the US and China, consider stablecoins as a potential serious risk to financial systems. The risk is especially high with centralised coins, such as those backed by fiat and issued by private organisations, as economic power would be disproportionately concentrated on a single entity.

The widespread use of stablecoins in payment platforms could also pose a systemic risk, in relation to the validation and confirmation of stablecoin transactions which could interfere with payment systems. If stablecoin users couldn’t access money in their e-wallets and businesses couldn’t receive payments, economic activity would be greatly disrupted. However, these risks have not deterred major institutions like JP Morgan and VISA to explore stablecoin use cases via partnerships and internal R&D.

Tether As of mid-2025, Tether remains the largest stablecoin globally, holding a market share of over 60%. This dominance is driven by its massive liquidity, broad adoption across exchanges and blockchains, and large reserve holdings, especially in U.S. Treasuries. Its nearest competitors include USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and decentralized stablecoins like DAI, although Tether’s market share far exceeds them. Recent reports have shown Tether’s involvement in major financial markets and even Bitcoin mining, further reinforcing its stronghold on the crypto landscape.

Regarding Facebook’s Diem (formerly Libra) project, it was officially abandoned. Diem’s assets were sold off to Silvergate Capital in early 2022, marking the end of the initiative that once aimed to create a globally accessible digital currency. Regulatory pressures and internal challenges led to the dissolution of the project.

Market Size and Dynamics

Cards in Issue

Based on NBB figures, in 2024, there were 38.06 million cash, debit, delayed debit and credit cards in Belgium, a decline of 0.23% from 2023. Included in the total were 25.82 million debit cards (+6.94% from 2023), accounting for 67.85% of the cards total.

NBB provided no official explanation for such a sharp rise in debit card numbers between 2019-2022. Once double-counting in error is assumed to be very unlikely, it is thought that either banks or other payment service providers had either: (1a) renewed and replaced Bancontact Maestro cards to Bancontact Debit Mastercard cards and/or (1b) issued a second virtual debit card for Payconiq Bancontact users, which both would mean that the number of cards per cardholder nearly doubled for a short period of time; or (2) one or several e-money institutions have moved prepaid card portfolios from other countries to Belgium (i.e. post-Brexit card portfolio migration from the UK to Belgium).

Given the sharp rise in debit card numbers in 2024, the total number of cards in Belgium was equivalent to a surprisingly very high 3.21 cards per capita at end-2024, compared to 4.10 in 2020.

10 - Cards Issued in Belgium
(000s)202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with cash function41,243.942,640.831,084.336,213.636,049.137,130.6-0.45%2.47%0.49%
Cards with a payment function45,961.449,844.825,332.230,102.231,810.532,764.85.67%-20.11%-4.39%
- Cards with a debit function39,817.546,129.519,956.724,151.625,827.826,602.66.94%-23.59%-5.24%
- Cards with a credit and/or delayed debit function6,144.56,093.65,540.85,950.75,984.46,163.90.57%-1.83%-0.37%
Total cards47,266.651,159.533,125.838,156.938,068.839,210.9-0.23%-7.29%-1.50%
Payment cards per capita - Belgium4.104.422.843.243.213.31-0.82%-10.60%-2.22%
Payment cards per capita - EU27 total1.661.721.781.781.781.820.00%13.63%2.59%
Note: NBB gave no official explanation given for the sudden sharp rise in debit card numbers between 2018 and 2020.
Note: in 2019 and 2020, the sudden rise in debit card numbers provides a strange key indicator for payment cards per capita.
Note: most credit cards are delayed debit cards; all payment cards have a cash function.
Note: totals include e-money cards.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Card Fraud

Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat for the payments industry, including Belgium.

The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.

Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasing to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.

The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.

The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of strong customer authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.

In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.

In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.

According to ECB figures published in October 2021, the value of fraud as a share of value of transactions in Belgium in 2019 was 0.023% by value and 0.011% by volume. According to ECB figures for H1 2023, the value of card fraud as a share of transaction value in Belgium was 0.041% (EU/EEA average: 0.031%) and 0.011% (EU/EEA average: 0.015%) by volume. A significant update on Fraud numbers across Europe is expected from the ECB in 2026.

In 2019, acquirer card fraud losses by channel were composed of; ATM fraud: 6%, POS fraud: 14% and CNP fraud: 80%. Issuer card fraud losses by channel were composed of; ATM fraud: 5%, POS fraud: 6% and CNP fraud: 89%.

In 2025, card fraud losses in Belgium remain low by European standards, but payment fraud continues to grow moderately. Recent regulatory and market reports indicate losses from card fraud (including unauthorised card payments and scams) are estimated to be around €12–15 million annually for Belgium.​

The significant difference between issuer fraud and acquirer fraud is related to the fact that Belgium has a higher share of cross-border payments compared to other European countries. Notably, credit card fraud on the Internet has almost doubled in 3 years in Belgium, according to the Federal Computer Crime Unit (FCCU).

The increasing number of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards has led to improved safety of payment transactions. As most POS card transactions are authorised online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Belgium are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and a few other hotspots. Obviously, EMV implementation has contributed significantly to declining fraud rates.

Belgian banks are pushing 3D-Secure, offer PIN-change services at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card. The increasing numbers of chip technology cards, contactless cards and display cards have led to improved safety of payment transactions. Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating banks’ fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring and implementing more rule-based fraud control.

Card Use 

Because of Belgium’s location in the European Union and its services-based economy, a high proportion of transactions are by tourists and by visitors working temporarily in the country. Also, Belgium has a slightly higher share of cross-border payments compared to other European countries. Card payments have grown significantly between 2020 and 2024 by a CAGR of 11.31%.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen in all card usage metrics, particularly in cash withdrawals and remote payments. In 2024, there were 3.97 billion card payments (+10.45%) with a total value of €168.06 billion (+8.82% from 2023). The ATV per card payment amounted to €42.32, and there were on average 124.8 payments per Belgian card per year.

Included in the card payments total in 2024 were 845.16 million remote payments on the internet (+27.35%) with a value of €54.16 billion (+22.65% from 2023).

The use of Belgian cards abroad accounted for 1.85 billion payments (+16.81%) with a total value of €83.92 billion (+14.14% from 2023), accounting for 46.60% and 49.94% of total card payments, respectively.

In 2024, Bancontact was used for 382 million online payments, an increase of 19.7% from 2023.

11 - Payments with Belgian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with a payment function45,961,36549,844,84025,332,15030,102,22331,810,48432,764,7995.67%-20.11%-4.39%
Ø payments per card per year53.555.5126.5119.4124.8130.44.52%113.88%16.42%
Ø payments value per card per year€2,342.0€2,401.0€5,427.1€5,130.3€5,283.1€5,520.32.98%101.01%14.99%
Payments (m)2,459.082,765.873,204.643,595.513,971.214,273.2310.45%70.86%11.31%
- remote payments (m)288.27349.86568.69663.64845.16960.7327.35%336.95%34.30%
- thereof POS payments (m)2,170.812,416.012,635.952,931.873,126.053,312.496.62%46.71%7.97%
- thereof cross-border payments (m)333.19489.261,333.451,584.181,850.552,582.5816.81%429.39%39.56%
- with debit cards (m)2,208.202,495.672,904.083,270.963,606.553,976.5710.26%76.69%12.06%
- with credit and delayed debit cards (m)250.88270.19273.29282.36294.35296.664.25%3.99%0.79%
Value of payments (€bn)107.64119.68137.48154.43168.06180.878.82%60.58%9.94%
- remote payments value (€bn)17.7323.7236.5544.1654.1663.7822.65%356.93%35.51%
- thereof POS payments (€bn)89.9295.96100.93110.27113.90117.093.29%22.73%4.18%
- thereof cross-border payments (€bn)17.6125.5461.8673.5283.92111.2314.14%308.91%32.53%
- with debit cards (€bn)90.79100.59114.88129.49141.47157.379.25%70.32%11.24%
- with credit and delayed debit cards (€bn)16.8519.0921.3522.7623.2523.502.14%7.66%1.49%
ATV per card payment€43.77€43.27€42.90€42.95€42.32€42.33-1.47%-6.02%-1.23%
Note: credit card figures are classified as delayed debit and/or credit by the ECB for Belgium.
Note: NBB gave no official explanation given for the sudden sharp rise in debit card numbers between 2018 and 2020.
Note: in 2019, the sudden rise in debit card numbers provides unrealistic key indicators for payments/payments value per card per year.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Cash withdrawals with Belgian cards – According to NBB, the central bank, the number and value of ATM transactions continued to decline from 2013.

In 2024, there were 36.05 million cards with a cash function in circulation and 142.31 million withdrawals on cards (-1.23%) compared with 3.97 billion payments on Belgian cards. The withdrawals value on cards amounted to €27.71 billion (+1.95% from 2023). The ATV per cash withdrawal on cards was €194.70, and there were 3.9 cash withdrawals per card per year. The reduction in withdrawals per card per year demonstrates the decreasing relevance of cash in the payments mix in Belgium, as in many developed markets.

12 - Cash Withdrawals with Belgian Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Cards with cash function41,243,85842,640,78831,084,27836,213,62236,049,09837,130,571-0.45%2.47%0.49%
Ø withdrawals per card per year4.23.85.14.03.93.8-0.77%-49.10%-12.63%
Ø Total cash withdrawals value per card per year€712.9€677.7€913.5€750.4€768.6€755.62.42%-29.22%-6.68%
Number of cash withdrawals (m)173.09163.22158.74144.07142.31139.89-1.23%-47.84%-12.21%
- thereof withdrawals domestic (m)164.04151.61144.46127.60124.17120.83-2.69%-51.75%-13.56%
- thereof withdrawals abroad (m)9.0511.6214.2816.4718.1419.0510.12%16.93%3.18%
Value of ATM cash withdrawals (€bn)29.4028.9028.3927.1827.7128.061.95%-27.47%-6.22%
- thereof values domestic (€bn)27.9726.9626.0724.4624.6624.860.81%-31.39%-7.26%
- thereof values abroad (€bn)1.431.942.322.713.043.1912.29%35.22%6.22%
ATV per cash withdrawal on cards€169.86€177.04€178.87€188.62€194.70€200.563.22%39.06%6.82%
Total cash withdrawals per capita15.014.113.612.212.011.8-1.81%-49.70%-12.84%
Total cash withdrawals value per capita€2,548.1€2,494.0€2,431.0€2,307.0€2,338.2€2,367.61.35%-30.06%-6.90%
Source: ECB, NBB.

Card Use per Capita

Card use is high in Belgium compared with many other European countries. In 2024, card payments per capita were 329.2 (+9.13% from 2023). Debit card use stood at 304.4 payments per capita (+9.61%), but at 24.8 payments per capita, credit/delayed debit card use in Belgium continued to be significantly lower. In addition, there were 12.0 cash withdrawals per capita, down 1.81% from 2023.

13 - Card Payments Per Capita in Belgium
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit card payments per capita191.4215.4248.6277.7304.49.61%70.38%11.25%
Debit card value per capita€7,868.5€8,681.4€9,835.8€10,992.5€11,938.78.61%64.24%10.43%
Credit/delayed debit card payments per capita21.723.323.424.024.83.63%0.28%0.06%
Credit/delayed debit card value per capita€1,460.4€1,647.6€1,827.9€1,932.1€1,961.91.54%3.81%0.75%
Total card payments per capita213.1238.7272.0301.6329.29.13%61.84%10.11%
Total card value per capita€9,328.9€10,329.0€11,663.7€12,924.6€13,900.67.55%51.77%8.70%
Note: credit card figures are classified as delayed debit and/or credit by the ECB for Belgium.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Debit Card Use 

The domestic Bancontact debit cards are used most frequently. The value of debit card payments exceeded cash withdrawals for the first time in 2001 and has extended its lead subsequently. Debit card payments showed an annual compound growth rate of 12.06% between 2020 and 2024, and the number of contactless low value payments on Bancontact cards gained momentum. More striking is that the rate of increase in CAGR terms continues to grow, implying that debit card payments are if anything continuing to gain in popularity relative to cash and other methods.

As of 2024, the 18.0 million Bancontact cards amounted to 69.7% of the debit cards total. The Bancontact card market share looks surprisingly low, but it is reported in light of the sudden rise of debit card numbers year-over-year.

In 2024, there were 3.60 billion debit card payments (+10.26%) with a total value of €141.47 billion (+9.25% over 2023). The ATV per debit card payment amounted to €39.23 and there were on average 139.6 payments per debit card per year. The 2.50 billion payments on Bancontact cards amounted to 62.95% of total debit card payments. This represents a decline as a proportion of all debit card transactions from 66.75% in 2023.

14 - Payments with Belgian Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Debit cards (000s)39,817.546,129.519,956.724,151.625,827.826,602.66.94%-23.59%-5.24%
- thereof Bancontact cards (000s)17,000.017,400.017,500.018,000.018,000.017,800.00.00%5.88%1.15%
- thereof Bancontact cards in % of debit cards42.7%37.7%87.7%74.5%69.7%66.9%-6.49%39.00%6.81%
Ø payments per debit card per year55.554.1145.5135.4139.6149.53.10%131.23%18.25%
Ø payments value per card per year€2,280.2€2,180.5€5,756.7€5,361.6€5,477.6€5,915.72.16%122.90%17.39%
Payments (m)2,208.202,495.672,904.083,270.963,606.553,976.5710.26%76.69%12.06%
- thereof payments on Bancontact cards (m)1,637.501,910.202,270.302,400.002,500.002,604.174.17%67.92%10.92%
- thereof payments on Bancontact cards in%74.2%76.5%78.2%73.4%69.3%65.5%-5.53%-4.96%-1.01%
Payments value on debit cards (€bn)90.79100.59114.88129.49141.47157.379.25%70.32%11.24%
ATV per debit card payment€41.12€40.30€39.56€39.59€39.23€39.57-0.91%-3.60%-0.73%
Note: NBB gave no official explanation given for the sudden sharp rise in debit card numbers between 2018 and 2020.
Note: in 2019, the sudden rise in debit card numbers provides unrealistic key indicators for payments/payments value per debit card per year.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Delayed Debit/Credit Card Use

The credit card market has been more dynamic since 2005, with the launch of Mastercard programmes by ING Belgium, Dexia (now: Belfius Bank), Deutsche Bank and by American Express.

Described as credit cards by BNB, there are credit cards, cards with credit function and/or delayed debit function, and cards with debit and/or delayed debit function. Most are ‘month-end’ delayed debit cards rather than revolving credit cards of the UK or US type.

In 2024, there were 294.35 million payments on 5.98 million credit/delayed debit cards (+0.57%) with a total value of €23.25 billion (+2.14% over 2023). The ATV per credit/delayed debit card payment accounted for €78.98, and there were 49.2 payments per credit/delayed debit card per year.

15 - Payments with Belgian Credit/Delayed Debit Cards
202020212022202320242025FGR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
Credit/delayed debit cards (000s)6,144.56,093.65,540.85,950.75,984.46,163.90.57%-1.83%-0.37%
Ø payments per credit/dd card per year40.844.349.347.449.248.13.66%5.93%1.16%
Ø payments value per card per year€2,742.5€3,132.7€3,853.2€3,824.8€3,884.9€3,812.11.57%9.67%1.86%
Payments (m)250.88270.19273.29282.36294.35296.664.25%3.99%0.79%
Value of payments (€bn)16.8519.0921.3522.7623.2523.502.14%7.66%1.49%
ATV per credit/delayed debit card payment€67.17€70.65€78.12€80.61€78.98€79.21-2.02%3.53%0.70%
Note: credit card figures are classified as delayed debit and/or credit by the ECB for Belgium.
Source: ECB, NBB.

E-Money Use

The electronic purse PROTON was phased out by end-of February 2015 (see Appendix). It was replaced by contactless Bancontact payments.

In 2024, there were 44.38 million purchases on e-money cards and cards giving access to e-money accounts, a 13.64% increase from 2023. The total value amounted to €1.60 billion (+3.27% over 2023). The ATV per e-money purchase accounted for €36.16, and there were 3.7 e-money purchases per capita (see Table 16) – which has declined by 0.96% from 2020.

16 - E-Money Use
20202021202220232024GR 23/24GR 5YCAGR 5Y
E-money institutions resident in Belgium86543-25.00%-57.14%-15.59%
Outstanding value on e-money storages (€m)563.0652.0730.2817.9916.012.00%58.75%9.68%
E-money cards3,099,3832,697,00220,270,05921,923,43622,858,1764.26%739.56%53.04%
- thereof e-money cards (prepaid cards)1,564,8161,368,34019,074,26320,847,22021,889,5815.00%1494.36%73.99%
- thereof cards giving access to e-money accounts1,534,5671,328,6621,195,7961,076,216968,595-10.00%-28.24%-6.42%
E-money card terminals28,58433,9651,124949787-17.07%-95.46%-46.12%
E-money purchases (m)57.2047.3343.7039.0544.3813.64%-1.19%-0.24%
E-money purchases value (€bn)3.443.101.671.551.603.27%-29.64%-6.79%
ATV per e-money purchase€60.15€65.46€38.14€39.79€36.16-9.13%-28.79%-6.57%
Total e-money purchases per capita5.04.13.73.33.712.97%-4.72%-0.96%
Total e-money purchases value per capita€298.2€267.4€142.7€131.9€135.42.66%-32.15%-7.46%
Note: E-money schemes in Belgium are available in the form of e-money accounts and reloadable prepaid cards, e.g. luncheon cards.
Note: E-money figures up to end-2014 include e-purse Proton volumes.
Source: ECB, NBB.

Leading Card Issuers in Detail

BNP Paribas Fortis issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro, and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA. It previously issued American Express cards, through its joint venture with American Express, AlphaCard. As part of the Fortis deal, in 2010, BNP Paribas Group (F) sold BNP Paribas Personal Finance Belgium (previously Cetelem Belgium) to private equity investors Apax Partners and Altair Amboise. BNP Paribas PF Belgium was rebranded as Buy Way. In November 2018, BNP Paribas Fortis became the first Belgian Bank to offer Apple Pay. As of 2020, the bank offered private banking and wealth management clients the Mastercard World Platinum card and the World Elite card.

KBC Bank offers contactless Bancontact debit cards and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard Silver, Gold or Platinum. It also offers a Mastercard prepaid card. By end-2006 it had 1,600,000 pay now debit cards and 373,000 pay later debit cards in circulation as well as 108,000 revolving credit cards; no update has since been given. KBC Bank provided no subsequent update on card numbers.

In June 2020, KBC enabled customers to pair their debit cards with supported contactless wearables and use them for day-to-day payments. The launch is a product of collaboration between IoT platform DIGISEQ, KBC, Mastercard and Bancontact.

During 2021, KBC Bank launched several new banking and insurance applications, including the Instant Card Service, which allows clients applying for a new debit card or replacing an existing card to instantly access their new electronic card in KBC/CBC Mobile. Over the past few years, the bank also added a large number of non-banking applications to its range of services, including the ability to pay for car parking or public transport tickets, reserve bicycles on bike sharing platforms, enter and leave car parks using number plate recognition and pay automatically, order cinema tickets and other services.

Belfius Bank issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro, prepaid cards and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard Red, Gold and Platinum. Its Maestro-branded Perso debit card allowed customers to choose their own card artwork and was the first card of this type on the Belgian market. Launched in June 2006, it attracted 200,000 applications for cards during the rest of the year. During 2006, Dexia rolled out authentication devices to its cardholders in Belgium to allow secure access to internet services.

Belfius E@sy Card – In close collaboration with the Public Centres for Social Welfare, in 2014 Belfius launched a new card product. The Belfius E@sy Card is a bankcard to which everyone is entitled. Use of the card comes under the supervision of the Public Centres for Social Welfare, but holders still have the freedom of flexible access to their financial resources.

In 2018, Belfius began to offer its customers virtual Mastercard prepaid cards with a view specifically to secure e-commerce purchasing.

Beobank is thought to have over 250,000 VISA and Mastercard revolving credit cards in circulation in Belgium. Beobank issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro, the Bancontact app, and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA.

Citi was the first bank in Belgium to issue a VISA card (1988). Unlike most Belgian credit cards, Citibank’s offer included extended credit, and customers did not need an existing relationship to apply for a card. Much of Citibank’s business in Belgium has been built around co-branded cards, including AAdvantage card, the frequent flyer card developed with American Airlines, and Citi Travel Pass Mastercard card.

ING Belgium issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA. In order to create ING Card Europe, the credit card portfolio of ING Belgium was transferred to ING Card (NL).

In 2021, ING Belgium reported that contactless payments made by customers rose by nearly 70%. In 2021, Apple Pay joined the ING Banking app, further boosting contactless payments. ING also recorded around 137 million contactless payments via Bancontact, 68% more than in 2020. On the other hand, cash withdrawals continued to drop by 6% compared to the previous year.

The ING+ deals cashback programme was the most used product in the app. In 2021, 153,000 users registered, and ING returned a total of €586,000 in cashbacks. In total, 334,000 customers had signed up for ING+ deals since the launch in 2018.

bpost Bank issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro, the Bancontact app, and contactless credit cards branded Mastercard.

Deutsche Bank Belgium issues contactless Bancontact debit cards co-badged Maestro and various contactless credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA.

With the acquisition of AXA Bank Belgium in late 2018, Crelan Bank became Belgium’s fifth largest bank by assets. Crelan, along with its subsidiaries Europabank and KeyTrade Bank, issue both VISA and Mastercard products, Bancontact (Crelan only), and American Express (Keytrade Bank).

Consumer Finance Credit Card Issuers

Belgium is a comparatively small consumer finance credit market in Europe. Instalment credit, car finance and consumer loans are important market segments. Focussed on consumer finance business, several international consumer finance specialists compete with domestic banks. They issue cards with revolving credit function branded Mastercard or VISA.

Cross-border consumer specialists active in the country are e.g. BNP Paribas (Alpha Credit), Cofidis, and Santander CF (Comfort Card) all servicing from Belgium or France. The leading Belgian consumer finance institutions are:

The Belgian consumer finance market is regulated by the NBB, e.g. pre-contractual information, right of withdrawal and calculation criteria of the Annual Percentage Rate of interest (APR).

NBB operates the Central Individual Credit Register which is an instrument used to curb excessive indebtedness. Since 2003, it has recorded information on all loans contracted by natural persons for private purposes as well as any overdue debts relating to these loans. It is compulsory for lenders to consult the Central Individual Credit Register before granting any loans. Borrower’s rights to privacy and to respect during the collection process have been enshrined in law since 2002.

Buy Way – In July 2010, BNP Paribas announced the sale of BNP Paribas Personal Finance Belgium (PFB) to funds managed by Apax Partners, the private equity group. PFB, formerly Cetelem Belgium, was BNP Paribas’s Belgian consumer credit subsidiary. BNP Paribas PFB became rebranded as Buy Way. Buy Way issues Mastercard credit cards and a co-branded IKEA Mastercard credit card.

Appendix

Bank Sector Background 

The Belgian market is dominated by four large banks following a consolidation process in the late 1990’s. Some significant events in the Belgian banking market are listed below:

Electronic Purse Proton – Historic Background

According to the Bancontact-MisterCash company, Proton was phased-out by end of February 2015. It was replaced by contactless payments on Bancontact cards and by QR-code initiated mobile payments on Bancontact cards.

Payments with Proton cards had fallen from the 2002 peak of 120 million payments, when the advent of the retail Euro seemed briefly to herald a new start for electronic purses. Worldline, which had managed the Proton system, said that Proton had retained a loyal following of 1.5 million active cardholders in 2012 (-27.7% from 2011), but that Bancontact debit cards were increasingly being used for low value payments under €10 without PIN.

In 2015, there were 1.55 million purchases on Proton cards (-94.1%) with the total value €50 million (-28.6% from 2014). The ATV per Proton purchase amounted to €32.68, and there were marginal 0.1 purchases on Proton cards per capita.

Contactless BC/MC cards replaced e-purse Proton – In January 2012, the BC-MC association reduced the rates for BC/MC low value payment amounts under €10 and launched the campaign “Small amount? Use your card”. From 2014 onwards, it was possible to make BC/MC card payments of less than €25 on payment terminals without PIN and amounts higher than €25 with a PIN. This evolution was said to be a step towards a ‘contactless’ payment future. In parallel, the BC/MC association announced that the e-purse PROTON would be phased-out by end-2014.

From 1 October to 31 December 2014, the service for loading Proton cards was gradually phased out, the number of points where cards could be pre-loaded progressively decreased during that period as well. Proton payments disappeared as of 1 January 2015, with a phase-out period up to 28 February 2015 during which remaining Proton terminals were withdrawn.

Digital & Card Payment Yearbooks