PBS is lowering the price for using international cards.
This will help increase the number of merchants who accept international cards. The winners will be consumers and merchants and the many tourists and commuters who currently visit Danish merchants but leave empty-handed.
It will be cheaper for Danish merchants to accept international cards when PBS lowers its rates as of 1 July 2008. First and foremost, this will affect the price for using the foreign-issued payment cards that tourists bring with them and the international debit cards that many young people now carry around.
"Currently, you can only use your international card in one in three merchants, so lowering prices will help change that. It will increase the volume of card payments at the expense of cash transactions, which is good news for both merchants and consumers," says Lars Fruergaard, Director of Sales and Marketing at PBS A/S (Payment Business Services).
PBS' goal is that during the course of 2012 it should be possible to pay by international card in at least two in three merchants in Denmark.
Easier to be a tourist and Swedish commuter in Denmark
Whereas, at present, most Danes use Dankort when they want to pay by card, things are different for foreigners. For them, a visit to Denmark is associated with difficulties since tourists, commuters and business travellers are used to being able to pay with an international payment card:
"Tourists see the fact that they are very restricted in where they can use their payment card in Denmark as a barrier. In addition, they are often hit with higher fees. With these lower prices, we hope that more merchants will be willing to accept international cards, which will send out a very positive signal to tourists. At the same time, it will make life easier for the many Swedes who, when travelling in the Øresund region, have to remember to take Danish currency," says Ole Andersen, Sales and Marketing Director at Wonderful Copenhagen.
Cheaper small transactions on the Internet
It will also be cheaper to shop online with a foreign-issued payment card. And, at the same time, the price for Danes using international cards and their Dankort on the Internet will also be lowered.
This price reduction will benefit around a quarter of Dankort transactions, and this in turn will help stimulate growth on the Internet - particularly among the increasing number of merchants offering goods and services below DKK 100.