BancontactEurope’s most widely used domestic scheme relative to population, present in cards, mobile, and e-commerce; co-badged first with Maestro, then with Debit Mastercard/Visa Debit.Bancontact Payconiq Company · since 19792.5 billion payments in 2025, including 1.9 billion in-store card payments (1.4 billion contactless) and 526 million mobile payments (up 11.6%); 78% of online transactions in Belgium (Bancontact Payconiq Company, 2026)
Global registry · Europe · Western Europe
Belgium Payment systems
5 systems listed.
CurrencyEuro (EUR)
Domestic schemeBancontact
RegulatorNational Bank of Belgium (NBB) / FSMA
Leading payment methods
BancontactWallets (Bancontact/Payconiq app)Credit transferInternational cards
E-commerce shares
Cards · 50%Wallets · 25%Account-to-account · 12%Buy now, pay later · 7%Other · 5%Cash · 1%
Bancontact. A long-standing domestic debit scheme (1979) held by about 90% of Belgians. Its mobile app, merged with Payconiq, handles QR payments, P2P, and e-commerce. EPI acquired Payconiq, and Belgium is a pilot market for Wero, whose e-commerce service opened in March 2026.
Belgians with Bancontact≈90% of adults
Bancontact transactions≈2B a year (2024)
Wero e-commercelaunched in March 2026
An efficient duopoly: Bancontact for everyday spending, Visa and Mastercard for credit and cross-border use. Fraud rates are among the lowest in Europe.
IBAN · Belgium
16 charactersSEPA area799 bank codes651 BIC codes
- Total length
- 16 characters
- Bank code position
- 5–7
- BBAN structure
3!n7!n2!n
Structurally valid example
BEcountry code68check digits539bank007547034account
BE68 5390 0754 7034
Learn about this market. The guides and courses that cover it.
Merchant, acquirer, PSPPayment regulationCentral banks and payment infrastructuresAgents, distributors, and banking-as-a-service: who is liable for whatPayments in the BalkansPayments in the Baltics and FinlandAccepting payments in Germany, Austria, and SwitzerlandAccepting payments in Spain and PortugalChoosing a jurisdiction for your payment institutionAccepting payments in the Netherlands and BelgiumAccepting payments in the NordicsAccepting payments in Poland and Central Europe
Card schemes
Clearing and settlement
Centre d'Échange et de Compensation (CEC / UCV)Belgian retail CSM operated by the central bank; part of Belgium’s payment flows is also cleared by STET.National Bank of Belgium · since 1974
Wallets
Bancontact Pay (formerly the Payconiq by Bancontact app)The Payconiq brand is leaving the Belgian market, so any technical or contractual documentation that mentions Payconiq in Belgium is now outdated.Bancontact Payconiq Company · since 2015526 million mobile payments in 2025, nearly 21% of the company’s transactions (Bancontact Payconiq Company, 2026)
ProtonDiscontinuedBelgian e-purse, a world pioneer of the technology that was exported under license. Its end marked the final failure of the chip-based prepaid model in Europe.Banksys · since 1995Discontinued on December 31, 2014
Other
itsmeBelgian digital ID used for authentication, transaction confirmation, and e-signatures. A state-recognized public-private partnership of banks and telecom operators. In practice, it is the strong authentication building block for online payments and e-government in Belgium, with enrollment through a bank account or an ID card.Belgian Mobile ID SA/NV (consortium founded in 2017 by Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis, ING, KBC, Orange Belgium, Proximus, and Telenet; the Belgian government has held about 20% through SFPI/FPIM since 2021) · since 2017