Daimler Financial Services, the global financial services provider of Daimler, is acquiring the electronic payment services provider PayCash Europe to develop a presence in the electronic payment (ePayment) sector. The German multinational corporation, which is one of the world’s leading automotive groups, intends to launch its own electronic payment services provider under the “Mercedes pay” brand name.
Daimler Financial Services, which provides financing, leasing, insurance, fleet management, insurance services, banking and credit/debit cards services in more than 40 countries, recently expanded its portfolio to offer mobility services under the brands car2Go (a leading car-sharing service), mytaxi, Mercedes-Benz Rent and moovel. “Mercedes pay” will be integrated into Daimler Mobility Services, a subsidiary of Daimler Financial Services, with a number of different mobility services. The company plans to use the new payment system to facilitate car financing and related transactions.
“We invest in the future of mobility and are a pioneer in the realm of innovative mobility services,” notes the mobility services website. “With smartphone based mobility concepts, we optimize the use of existing transportation infrastructure and develop flexible and ecofriendly mobility solutions of the future.”
“‘Mercedes pay’ is a fundamental component of our mobility and digitization strategy,” said Bodo Uebber, member of the Daimler Board of Management. “Daimler’s new payment system underscores our ambition, as a leading provider of digital mobility services, to make the products and services we offer even more appealing.”
“Our philosophy is to provide mobility at your fingertips,” added Klaus Entenmann, chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Financial Services. “‘Mercedes pay’ allows our customers to easily and securely pay for our mobility offerings and services using their smartphones. ‘Mercedes pay’ will mainly benefit customers who, in the future, will only need to provide their payment details one time, in order to be able to use a range of Daimler’s services. This is made possible by the eWallet function, a virtual source of payment.”
PayCash Europe, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Luxembourg, offers a digital payment platform for mobile payments, e-money, voucher and loyalty solutions, and digital currencies. The company has an e-money license, issued by the Luxembourg financial supervisory body CSSF (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier), which allows it to operate as a one-stop payment partner.
It’s worth noting that digital currencies, including bitcoin, are prominently featured in the service portfolio of PayCash. “Get your business ready for virtual currencies,” says the company. “Whether you are operating a bitcoin exchange or a merchant business that wants to offer its customers bitcoins as a payment solution, our backend solution provides the technical and legal platform to implement the virtual currency into the existing payment infrastructure and enables payments to be processed in all major fiat currencies.”
The PayCash platform enables bitcoin exchanges to run fiat currency accounts in the most traded currencies, managed through connections to the banking system. “We are able to offer your business a merchant account for the exchange and a dedicated E-wallet for your customers and exchange users,” claims the company. “Finally, to make our platform the best fit for your business, PayCash offers a Full KYC (Know Your Customer) service.”
Since digital currency solutions are but one component of PayCash service offerings, the acquisition does not necessarily imply that bitcoin will be part of “Mercedes pay” or other Daimler mobility services. However, the Daimler press release explicitly mentions that PayCash “offers solutions for cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and eWallet systems, in addition to mobile payment services.” Digital currencies are now part of Daimler’s infrastructure, and the company has in-house industry-standard and KYC/AML-compliant means to offer digital currency options to its customers. For example, it seems likely that, given sufficient user demand, Daimler Financial Services could offer bitcoin options for car financing and other mobility services.