Worldline enters the Japanese merchant services market through a partnership with local NSP Vesca

Worldline, a global leader in payments services announced its business expansion to Japan, offering credit card payment processing for merchants nationwide. An economically mature, very secure market with conservative consumer habits, Japan offers a huge growth potential for card payments.

The Worldline proposition for the Japanese market is based on a strong partnership with Vesca, a leading local provider of payment solutions and network service provider (NSP). Worldline will provide transaction processing, leveraging the footprint, scale and technology of its global payment processing facilities, while Vesca is the technical enabler that acts as the acceptance layer in the country. Through this set-up, starting to accept credit cards will no longer be cumbersome for merchants, and they can do so at competitive costs.

Roger Niederer, Chief Market Officer Merchant Services at Worldline, said: “Strong local relationships paired with latest payment technology at scale is the approach we are taking to address new markets. Japan is one of the most promising economies for card payments, and we are glad to be transforming the market though our unique set-up with Vesca. Their deep understanding of both the Japanese merchants and international payments is an asset in our partnership”.

The basic offering at launch in early 2022, consisting of credit card acquiring and POS card acceptance and processing, will be enlarged with e-commerce in the months to come. Merchants will benefit from Worldline’s offering by having a single point of contact for all their payment needs including fast onboarding.

Makoto Yoshida, Chief Executive Officer at Vesca, said: “This partnership will bring end-to-end advanced payment services and solutions for Japanese merchants as well as in-depth market expertise. Furthermore, we plan to create unique segment-specific features by collaborating with our extended ecosystem of clients and partners.”

Japan has a great potential for cashless payments, which is also endorsed by the government. Plans are to double the current rate of 35% of transactions being card-based by 2025. Next to consumer behaviour, a key barrier for the adoption of cashless payments at merchants are the lengthy onboarding processes (up to 6 weeks) and the cost for payment acceptance.