Polish payment fintech BLIK enters the Romanian and Slovak markets

Polish payment fintech BLIK enters the Romanian and Slovak markets

The joint venture between 5 Polish banks and MasterCard is rapidly expanding internationally

Polish mobile payment system BLIK announced this week it is launching in Romania, the second largest market in Central and Eastern Europe.

BLIK is a payment system available in mobile banking applications, connected to a bank account that does not require the user to have a physical or virtual card. It allows payment in online stores and traditional payment terminals, as well as cash withdrawal from ATMs. Payment via BLIK involves generating a unique six digit code valid for two minutes in the bank’s application. It is then entered online, at a terminal or at an ATM to initiate the transaction. Each transaction needs to be confirmed in the bank’s mobile application.

The Warsaw-based company’s expansion is being affected through the creation of a new entity, BLIK Romania, which will develop a digital payment system in Romanian currency. The company claims that the new system will offer “a number of major advantages”. It includes increased security and payments that are simplified by BLIK’s based system. In the first phase, the system BLIK says it will focus on implementing the solution in e-commerce.

BLIK is currently the most popular payment method in Poland. It currently has around 26 million mobile apps registered in the BLIK system. Almost 13 million BLIK users perform payments regularly every month, the company claims.

BLIK moves into Slovakia via acquisition

BLIK has also announced that its operator, Polish Payment Standard, has signed a purchase agreement for 100 percent of shares of the Slovak company VIAMO, a payment services provider. The deal will come into force after obtaining the approval of Slovakia’s central bank, the company says.

Bratislava-based VIAMO has the status of a payment institution and provides services in the field of P2P payments and payments to businesses based on QR codes and payment links. The company is also a payment gateway provider – VIAMO PayGate.