Skip to content

Payments newsletter: Betaaljournaal 32

Published on:

Spring brings us many new laws, reports and insights. The European Accessibility Act is knocking at the door, the Chartaal Act proposal has been amended and is going to the House of Representatives and dark clouds are gathering over Dutch credit cards as a result of the Consumer Credit Directive II. Unfortunately, as a result of geopolitical realities, the topic of resilience has also landed high on the payments agenda.

Spreker presenteert op podium tijdens congres, met groot scherm met het getal 32 op de achtergrond en publiek dat aandachtig luistert.

Fortunately, there are also more light-hearted developments, with ‘Paying at the Checkout 2024’, the ‘Home Shopping Market Monitor 2024’ and our new‘Roadmap 2025-2027‘. Our stakeholder forum in April again had an extensive and informative programme, and was also the best-attended ever. Finally, our Annual Report 2024 has now been published on the website.

This is my last foreword; after this, our new managing director Arjan Bol will take over from me. For over 11 years, I have had the pleasure of working together with our members, stakeholders and the colleagues of the Payments Association to improve and strengthen the Dutch payments ecosystem. Not without success, because I sincerely believe that our payments system is an example for Europe when it comes to reliability, innovation, digitalisation and efficiency, while maintaining inclusiveness and accessibility. Payments are there for everyone and should, in principle, always do it. I am proud to have been able to contribute to that.

Gijs Boudewijn, managing director

Adjusted Chartaal Bill (on cash) to Lower House

On 25 March, the amended bill on cash was sent to the House of Representatives. The most notable changes in the bill are:

The next step in the legislative process is for the House Finance Committee to ask questions of the minister. The proposal will then be debated in the House of Representatives and eventually in the Senate.

Stakeholder forum on upcoming accessibility law

The Payments Association held another stakeholder forum on 14 April, and this time it was largely dominated by the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which comes into force on 28 June. Rabobank explained how the upcoming accessibility obligations are being implemented across the organisation. Payment service provider CCV and payment terminal supplier Ingenico demonstrated how people with sight impairments can use their new payment terminals.

It was a rich programme that further covered these topics:

Representatives of stakeholders in the Dutch collective payment system can register with us for our future stakeholder forums. We will organise these two or three times a year.

Accessible and inclusive checkout in online stores

Technological developments in payments are accelerating and adoption curves are getting shorter. People with limited digital skills are increasingly at risk of being excluded from society in the current digitalisation process, and this is worrying, also from a business perspective. After all, they are an increasingly large group of consumers.

The Payments Association, together with Mastercard and Visa, conducted research into the checkout of webshops (into online ordering and checkout). Together with Mastercard, we presented the results at ‘Future of Payments’ in March. Important lesson: display payment options clearly. less is more!’ Limit the information on the checkout page, use short simple sentences and avoid English jargon.

Consequences ‘Consumer Credit Directive II’ for Dutch credit cards

The implementation bill for the ‘revised Consumer Credit Directive’ transposes EU Directive 2023/2225 (the Consumer Credit Directive II) into Dutch law.

Under the current bill, Dutch credit cards risk becoming more expensive and unattainable for some, due to stringent new requirements intended for ‘after payment’ (also known as Buy Now Pay Later or BNPL) but which no longer provide an exemption for the well-regulated Dutch credit cards.

A public internet consultation on this implementation law started on 15 April. The Payments Association, together with members, will react to the proposal, especially where it affects common Dutch credit cards, known asdeferreddebit cards.

Payments Association annual report: 2024 dominated by accessibility and legislation

For Payments Association Netherlands, 2024 was dominated by accessible banking and payments and various legislative processes. Last year, together with our members, we carried out many activities as part of the Accessible Banking programme. In addition, the implementation of the European Accessibility Act was prepared and many consultations took place on legislation to keep cash available, accessible and reachable.

Other European legislation that was prepared in 2024 and will be finalised or implemented from 2025 should guide further digitalisation, such as eIDAS 2.0, the PSR Payment Services Regulation, the PSD3 Payment Services Directive and the IPV Instant Payment Regulation. Finally, a legal framework for a possible digital euro is also in preparation.

Younger and older people in particular are more likely to make debit card payments at the till

The share of debit card payments in total payments at the checkout remained unchanged at 80% in 2024, but there are notable outliers among certain age groups. In particular, young people between 12 and 18 years and seniors between 65 and 74 years paid more often with a debit card, mobile phone or smartwatch than a year earlier. This is according to research conducted jointly by Betaalvereniging Nederland and DNB.

Online spending to €36 billion in 2024

Dutch consumers will have spent €36 billion online in 2024, a 5% growth compared to 2023. The number of online purchases fell by 1% to 345 million. 12% of online spending and purchases went to foreign webshops, accounting for €4.4 billion ( 12%) and 41 million purchases ( 4%). This is according to the latest figures from the Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor, the research into online consumer spending in the Netherlands. This research is conducted by NielsenIQ GfK on behalf of Thuiswinkel.org and Retail Insiders and in cooperation with PostNL and Betaalvereniging Nederland.

New Payments Association roadmap: developments in European payments

The Payments Association has again updated its roadmap for the next three years, based on developments in the European payments system. In our new roadmap, we pay attention to cash (after all, new legislation is coming in both the Netherlands and Europe) and new dossiers, such as eIDAS and Digital Direct Debit (Digitaal Incassomachtigen).

About payments

22% more debit card payments with smartphones in 2024

Strongest rise in debit card payments among students aged 12 to 18, from 78% to 84%

More figures in our factsheet

Association news

We warmly welcome Clear.Bank as a new member of the Payments Association.

Agenda

Member Bulletin

In addition to this Payment Journal, the Payments Association also publishes Member Bulletins. In these, we inform members about practical matters of interest. The bulletins usually appear a few times a month and cover a specific topic. Are you a member but not yet receiving these bulletins? You can get yourself placed on the mailing list at secretariaat@betaalvereniging.nl.

Subscribe to Payment Journal

Also curious about the latest developments in payments? Stay informed via Betaaljournaal. You can register here.

Gerelateerde artikelen