Foreign visitors and Dutch nationals can use ‘new’ debit cards from the Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit brands to pay in most Dutch shops, according to a press release. This marks the successful completion of the Debit Card Acceptance project (Project DCA). This project of the Dutch Payments Association, together with retailers, terminal suppliers, transaction processors, banks, Visa and Mastercard, aimed to adapt or replace the majority of payment terminals in the Netherlands to accept these ‘new’ debit cards by the end of 2022.
Especially visitors from abroad carry these new debit cards and, increasingly, Dutch citizens. Until recently, paying with Debit Mastercard or Visa Debit was not possible in more than half of the shops in the Netherlands.
Gijs Boudewijn, general manager of the Dutch Payments Association: “Together, we have achieved this within a year. In most Dutch shops, customers can now also use Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard payment cards, just like in neighbouring countries. That’s good news for tourists, as well as Dutch nationals who will all get these ‘new’ debit cards in the coming years.„
The DCA project required some 425,000 point-of-sale (POS) terminals to get a remote software upgrade. Merchants have received, or will soon receive, notification from their terminal supplier. A limited number of merchants with older payment terminals whose software cannot be upgraded, have replaced them or are in the process of doing so.
Business owners can order free information material from PIN.NL to show at the checkout counter which card brands customers can use for card payments: stickers, signs and ‘wobblers’ with the brand logos for Debit Mastercard and Visa Debit.
With most POS terminals ready and the rest soon to follow, 30 million Dutch Maestro and V PAY payment cards can be gradually replaced over the next few years. By 2028, all Dutch payment cards will carry the Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard brand. Meanwhile, anyone with a valid V PAY or Maestro debit card can continue to pay and withdraw cash anywhere in Europe.
A new debit card will automatically be mailed by the bank in good time – no need for cardholders to do anything!
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
