MB Way forges two new partnerships

Portugal’s SIBS payment systems MB Way which allows transfers from one account to another via a mobile app, has forged two new partnerships.

After Spain and Italy, MB Way will now allow money transfers to Norway and Poland.

The European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) – which unites the solutions of Spain’s Bizum, Italy’s Bancomat and Portugal’s MB Way – has gained two new members: the Norway’s Vipps MobilePay and Poland’s Blik.

The expansion represents a significant advance in constructing a totally inter-operational European digital payments ecosystem, enabling users in these countries to make instant cross-border money transfers as is currently the case within Portugal through the MB Way system.

The decision was announced last week by Rune Garborg, Director of Bizum Norway who according to El Economista, said: “It is very possible that more institutions will soon join this initiative”.

With the entry of Norway and Poland, the consortium now covers six countries — Spain, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Poland, and Andorra — and is preparing to interconnect, in the short term, with the platforms in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, as well.

The interoperability between these payment solutions is expected to benefit more than 100 million European citizens. The Norwegian platform Vipps MobilePay has more than 12 million users in Nordic countries such as Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, while the Polish system Blik already reaches 18.5 million users.