Swedish start-up iZettle, which provides technology that turns mobile phones into payment terminals, has been forced to stop processing Visa card transactions in Denmark, Finland and Norway.
In a message on its Web site, the firm's CEO Jacob de Geer says: "We are sorry to report that based on a policy decision by Visa Europe, we have no choice but to stop processing Visa card payments in Denmark, Finland and Norway on August 1."
Users in Sweden can still accept Visa payments while customers in the other three countries can take MasterCard. American Express is another option in Finland and Diners Club in Denmark and Norway.
De Geer has refused to expand on why Visa Europe has taken the decision to withdraw support for the PCI DSS compliant system but says: "We hope we can bring Visa card acceptance back to Denmark, Finland and Norway shortly and will of course keep you posted on the development."
Visa's rival MasterCard became an investor in iZettle last month while it has a stake in Square, which offers a similar product to the Swedish firm, although the two are not, yet, competitors with the former only operating in the US.