| The European payments landscape is much, much different: 1. Because they make less money on cards and card networks are controlled by pushy American corporations, European banks actively campaign against the use of cards online. So instead of feeling confident in Zero Fraud Liability as they are here, consumers in Europe are scared of getting hacked. 2. In some countries, banks don't even print the card number on the card, so you can't use them online if you want to. 3. Cards do not have rewards, so there's much less incentive to use them, even if they could. 4. As a result, consumers are accustomed to using "bank buttons" which let them log into their bank site to push a payment. 5. But that becomes really complex when you have more than 6 banks in a market, so solutions like SOFORT simplify by creating a centralized bank button. In short, Americans value rewards and convenience whereas Europeans value security. There have been several ACH-based online payment efforts in the US (eBillMe, Mazooma, Noca, etc.) and all have failed. |