Polish payment fintech BLIK enters Romania

BLIK, a leader in the payment systems market in Poland, said on March 8 that it is also launching in Romania, the second-largest market in Central and Eastern Europe.

The newly established company, BLIK Romania, will develop a digital payment system in RON "that will bring a number of major advantages, including high security and simplifying payments by generating and using an individual six-digit code for each transaction," the company said.

As part of BLIK Romania's business strategy, the company plans to introduce BLIK code payments in all sales channels: e-commerce, POS and ATM. In the first phase, the system operator will focus on implementing the solution in e-commerce.

"BLIK is designed to meet the expectations of both banks and payment providers in international markets. We chose Romania because it is among the countries with the fastest economic growth in Europe. Using our own expertise and the right business model, we are ready to develop in Romania a modern and unique mobile payment system as well," said Dariusz Mazurkiewicz, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of BLIK Romania and President of the Board of the Polish Payment Standard, BLIK mobile payment operator.

BLIK Romania was entered into the Commercial Register in early December last year. In March 2023, the BLIK Romania management board headed by Ryszard Drużyński, President of the Board, will sub­mit an application to the Romanian National Bank (BNR) for approval of the BLIK payment system in RON. Once the legal approval of the regulator is obtained and operations are started, the BLIK pay­ment system will be settled in Romanian lei and available to all acquirers and issuers having an open BNR account with access to the ReGIS system, the company explained in its press release.

"Romania has one of the most important digital economies in Central and Eastern Europe. Mobile banking and e-commerce are at a very high level of development, and customers are ready and willing to use modern payment services. According to Statista, the number of e-commerce users in Romania will increase by 16%, up to almost 11 million by 2025, which means a real development potential for BLIK," said Ryszard Drużynski, President of the Management Board of BLIK Romania.

BLIK is a payment system available in mobile banking applications, connected to a bank account that does not require the user to have a physical or virtual card. It allows payment in online stores and traditional payment terminals, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs.

Payment via BLIK involves generating a unique six-digit code valid for two minutes in the bank's application, which is then entered online, at a terminal or ATM to initiate the transaction. Each transaction needs to be confirmed in the bank's mobile application.