Checkout.com, Europe’s fastest-growing payments provider, has been awarded a licence as an E-Money Institution in France.
The Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de Résolution (ACPR), the regulatory arm of the Banque de France, approved the company licence for the London-based tech business which announced a record-breaking Series A fundraise of $230m earlier this year.
With this licence, the global payments provider will be able to issue, manage and provide payment services to European businesses from a French-regulated and autonomous entity. Checkout.com, which already has extensive operations across Europe, Asia Pacific and the US, will better serve French businesses and other pan-European merchants, by providing them with services through its unified global payment processing platform.
Checkout.com already supports some of France’s top online companies, including Veepee (formerly Vente Privee), Aircall and other international businesses such as easygroup, Virgin Active, TransferWise and Dashlane through their French operations. As a part of the new licence, Checkout.com is now fully regulated by the Banque de France and can offer greater services to the French market and Eurozone countries.
In addition, the newly licenced French entity is a member of Carte Bancaire which means that Checkout.com is fully integrated with Carte Bancaire, France’s national interbank network which has issued over 70 million cards and through which 60% of French payment transactions take place. The integration will provide clients of Checkout.com with access to more French customers than ever before. The French business is also a member of Visa and Mastercard, as well as other major card schemes.
To facilitate its expanding French business, Checkout.com will also look to grow its Paris office, with plans to hire more than 50 new employees in the next year.
Guillaume Pousaz, chief executive of Checkout.com, said: “France is one of the most critical eCommerce markets in Europe and of great strategic importance to the continued success of our business. We are thrilled to be licensed as an E-Money institution at a time when French businesses have proven themselves as leaders in the ever-changing eCommerce space. As a company whose own leadership team has meaningful connections to the French community, we look forward to being a part of that growth.”
"At Business France, we help to attract some of the world’s fastest-growing fintechs to set up here, employing people from our highly skilled tech and startup community. We are thrilled that a forward-thinking, global company like Checkout.com has been granted a licence here to further its mission of building the future of banking. We look forward to working closely with them to continue growing a tech ecosystem in France with global reach and influence,” said Pierric Bonnard, Directeur du bureau de Business France au Royaume-Uni.