PayPal granted banking licence
PayPal has been granted a banking licence by the Luxembourg financial services authority (CSSF) and has announcement that it will move its European headquarters to the country. The banking licence will enable PayPal to proactively market its Express Checkout service to retailers, a move which is prohibited under the terms of its current money licence – to date PayPal could only respond to retailers’ approaches to the company.
From 2 July, when the licence comes into effect, PayPal will be setting up local sales teams across Europe to expand the reach of its Express Checkout service – and therefore increase the number of retail sites accepting PayPal as a payment method.
The company says that Google’s launch of Checkout has no bearing on this move and it has no plans to extend its offering away from the online platform.
According to Forrester Research, 23% of European internet shoppers prefer paying with PayPal – which they can do at more than 100,000 websites in Europe.
In 2006, PayPal processed payments from “thousands of retailers” in Europe including Harrods, DHL, Meetic, Pixmania and Boots. The total payment volume in Europe reached GBP 4.29 billion. Over 15 million PayPal accounts are held by internet users in the UK.
