The Network for Electronic Transfers ( NETS ) Group has announced that will now support Visa and Mastercard payments, as a partnership with the two card networks. Following this announcement, merchants and traders can use their Nets terminals in order to access Visa and Mastercard payments from clients and shoppers.

The process will be faster and more efficient by following the new agreements inked between the company and the credit card networks, as they do not need to go through multiple payment service providers. Furthermore, shops and supermarkets can also access overseas wallets and foreign card payments if they are offering the Nets schemes. These include services like MyDebit, RuPay card, PrompPay, Alipay++, and the WeChat Pay application.

Although the Nets mentioned that merchants can get a transparent and overall view of their transactions across all their payment options when they consolidate their schemes with the company, many clients and traders have doubts about the new card payment implementation. Multiple customers reportedly use QR codes and cardless payments for their businesses, since it is easier for shoppers who wouldn’t choose to use their physical credit or debit cards as a preferred way to finish their payments. As multiple customers are increasingly opting to pay digitally, Nets’ partnership with Mastercard and Visa aims to provide businesses and traders with more possibilities of choices when it comes to the way clients would want to make the payment.

The terminals should be able to accept the transactions within five days after the announcement of the deal. As for the merchants who already accept Nets transactions, they can add the Mastercard and Visa options without the need of upgrading their terminals. Moreover, the payment provider mentioned that small businesses and companies that have under USD 1 million in turnover will have the benefit of receiving discount rates if they add the Visa and Mastercard payment options to their Nets scheme.

The rates in question are the fees paid by merchants for the processing of credit and debit card payments. The company did not disclose the rates that traders will incur following the partnership. On its website, a price guide was uploaded recently, and it showed that Nets will charge 0,8% transactions for its terminals, along with a 2,99% or 3,5% fee for credit card acceptance, in addition to monthly subscription taxes.

Mastercard and Visa’s strategy in the industry At the beginning of March 2023, both of the credit card payment networks decided to wind down their partnerships with crypto firms, considering the current state of the crypto industry. The decision came in the context of last year’s high-profile collapses such as FTX and BlockFi, which concerned many investors and spurred a regulatory effort around the world. As a result of this situation, certain Visa and Mastercard product launches and collaborations were pushed back until crypto market conditions stabilised.

In January of 2023, the Dutch Payments Association completed the Debit Card Acceptance (DCA) project which enabled Dutch cardholders and foreign visitors to make payments with Visa and Mastercard cards. The announcement marked the successful completion of the project of the association, together with retailers, terminal suppliers, banks, Visa, Mastercard, and transaction processors, which aimed to adapt or replace the majority of payment terminals in the Netherlands to accept the `new` debit cards by the end of 2022. .