As it starts piloting in the Netherlands this week, mobile payments app Payconiq has lost the backing of one of its major bank partners, ABN Amro.
ABN Amro was one of six Dutch banks - alongside ASN Bank, ING, Rabobank, Regiobank and SNS - to throw its weight behind Payconiq last year following successful testing in Belgium.
Initially developed at ING's innovation labs, the all-in-one app enables users to make direct payments online, in-store and peer-to-peer via a direct connection with the customer’s payment account at one of the participating banks.
But ABN Amro has now decided to pull out of the coalition and instead focus on expanding the functionality of its payment request app, Tikkie. Late last year the bank outlined plans to trial a system that lets people skip the checkout line and buy goods by scanning them with their phones.
The other banks are pushing ahead with Payconiq; ING and Rabobank have rolled out the service as an Android app to around 20,000 customers, with an iOS trial to follow next month and a full launch slated for later in the year.