JCB and Viva Wallet have come together for an extended European roll-out, which will enable contact and contactless payment between Viva Wallet’s European merchants and JCB’s card members through both face-to-face and online commerce transactions.

The roll-out will be extended with an additional six European nations, over and above the 17 countries which have already been enabled, from September 2020. This means that Viva Wallet will bring JCB acceptance to merchants spanning a total of 23 countries across Europe from late 2020.

Makis Antypas, CIO and Co-Founder of Viva Wallet, stated: “We always strive to combine our cloud-based processing infrastructure, our multiple principal memberships for acquiring and issuing services, and our participation in various payment systems across Europe, to benefit our merchant base making their payments’ journey as seamless as possible. 

“We are very excited about our partnership with JCB, and we welcome their cardmembers, not only to make easier and faster online and offline payments, but also to accommodate the increasing demand for alternative payments methods in Europe, something not many other payment providers can support.”

This collaboration will support around 80,000 merchants in Greece, more than 3,000 merchants in Belgium, and more than 6,000 merchants in the United Kingdom (and other countries) across multiple industries including retail, food, and transportation.

In 2019, JCB and Viva Wallet shared joint enablement plans, which were initially geared to serving merchants across 12 European countries, but through an extended roll-out would bring JCB acceptance to a new total of 17 various nations across Europe.

JCB Contactless provides cardmembers with a secure, fast solution for making payments at convenience and grocery stores, taxis, as well as other retail purchases. Merchants will now be able to increase their brand footprint and welcome sales from 24 countries and territories where JCB cards are issued, including Japan, China, Korea, Thailand.

Thomas Heigl, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, JCB International (Europe) Ltd., added: “We’re thrilled to partner with Viva Wallet and to welcome increased, secure sales for Viva Wallet’s merchants across 17 European countries. This is a key achievement for us as we increase JCB cardmember acceptance in both brick and mortar establishments and through e-commerce transactions. The opportunity to extend into other territories from September 2020 is one we look forward to also.”