Wirecard And Commerzbank Hook Up To Help Online Merchants

The Wirecard Group, a supplier of electronic payment and risk management solutions, announced on Friday (Sept. 23) it has entered into a partnership with Commerzbank AG.

According to a press release, Wirecard said as part of the deal Commerzbank gets easy-to-integrate online payment solutions for eCommerce, as well as risk management. With this, Commerzbank can, in turn, offer its business and corporate customers these services in addition to its own portfolio, it said.

According to the press release, Wirecard and Commerzbank evolved a new payment method: purchase on account with pre-financing, which enables online merchants to be credited with the outstanding amount immediately after a customer completes a purchase on account, without having to wait until the product has been delivered for the amount to be settled by the customer. Merchants who already offer purchase on account have often been confronted with the problem of having to wait at least 14 days to receive payment. This means that merchants previously had to pre-finance the sale for the duration of this period. In addition, other factors were the payment default risk and costly debtor management systems, Wirecard said. The new payment type can now be integrated into an existing software solution or, alternatively, is offered as a full package service with all other current payment options.

Marc Starzmann, Munich branch manager of the Commerzbank-Mittelstandsbank, explained the cooperation with Wirecard: “As the undisputed market leader in SME financing, we support many large, but also startup, online merchants, so as to benefit from the continuing eCommerce boom. We are delighted to have found a professional partner in Wirecard who understands our customers’ needs.”

Meanwhile, Wirecard’s Thorsten Holten, executive vice president of sales, financial institutions and FinTech Europe, said the company is “very proud” to offer this together with Commerzbank in the area of eCommerce for its customers. “It represents a reaction to the wishes of online merchants to have liquidity as soon as possible and also be able to set up their shops as individually and flexibly as possible, including in terms of payment types offered,” he said.