This week, BPCE and BNP Paribas revealed their plan to form a strategic alliance to handle the payment infrastructures' unparalleled growth and potential. By acquiring combined technology, both institutions would be able to manage all of their card payments through a single processor. This processor would lead France and be in the top three in Europe with 17 billion transactions divided between the two organizations.

The market's most common problems, such as the growth of e-commerce, the need for immediacy, the acceleration of mobile payments, and the innovations brought about by national and international schemes, could all be handled by the joint processor.

"Payment systems are an essential component of the bank's relationship with its customers, and we must ensure they adhere to the highest possible standards," says BNP Paribas director and CEO Jean-Laurent Bonnafé. Our goal for this processor is to develop a device that is scalable and efficient for all of our sites in Europe, considering the exponential growth in card transactions.

"The first generation of our collaboration in payments with BNP Paribas was a great success," continues BPCE CEO Nicolas Namias. In keeping with our next strategic strategy, we are moving forward by launching this new industrial collaboration initiative, which will significantly accelerate payments innovation in the years to come.