Worldline and Credit Agricole to Create ‘Major’ French Payments Player

Worldline has teamed with French lender Crédit Agricole to form a joint payments operation.

The partnership between the two companies will “create a major player in the French payment market,” according to a Wednesday (April 18) news release.

“France is a highly attractive and strategic market for Worldline,” the payments firm said, noting it has the second-largest economy in continental Europe and also the region’s largest payments market, with an aggregated merchant sales value (MSV) of $767 billion.

The partnership leverages Worldline’s expertise in in-store and online capabilities for merchants with Crédit Agricole’s “strong distribution networks” through its system of banks, the release stated.

“The contemplated joint company would offer to the key accounts in France a full-service offering leveraging Worldline’s global acceptance and acquiring platform, including the domestic ‘Cartes Bancaires’ scheme,” the release said. “In parallel, Worldline would be able to offer to its international merchants an access to the domestic scheme, further expanding its broad range of payment schemes.”

Merchants of all sizes will also gain access to “an enriched offering of payment brands and means,” with services such as mobile acceptance devices and point-of-sales solutions, according to the release.

This partnership follows reports last week of a collaboration between Worldline and SignCatch to help merchants in India expand their business digitally.

This partnership, combining Worldline’s payment technology and SignCatch’s Bech super app platform for brands, retailers and wholesalers, aims to enroll 100,000 merchants in India within three months of launch and help them deploy digital payments and create an online presence.

PYMNTS spoke Tuesday (April 18) with Worldline Head of Global Channel Partnerships Kelly Harvin about the challenges new merchants face when entering new markets. The right insights and right partnerships can help these merchants succeed.

However, Harvin told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster, “where the rub comes in with partners is how do they know that they’ve got the right mix of localized payment methods, international acquirers, local acquirers, all kind of added into the mix” that lightens the merchant’s load.

Worldline has forged its reputation of having insights and local partners in different markets that have helped it expand into new regions. And when figuring out the return on investment (ROI) for these expansions, “data is probably the most important asset that you have to lean into,” Harvin said.

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