Contactless girocard payments now accepted through Germany’s first digital TOPP terminal

Mobile app now enables contactless card payments with nearly every Android device.

• With PhonePOS, the German banking industry allows a “Digital Terminal without PIN Pad” (TOPP) to be piloted in the girocard system for the first time
• In addition to Mastercard and VISA, contactless payments with girocard are now possible
• The digital terminal is available as an app for commercially-available smartphones and tablets

Munich / Au i.d. Hallertau, 21. January 2021:  The German Banking Industry Committee (Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft) has approved the piloting of a Digital Terminal without PIN Pad (Digital TOPP) for the first time. The security assessment and the functional test of CCV’s PhonePOS payment terminal app were passed successfully, which means contactless payments using girocard are now possible with immediate effect.

The PhonePOS payment terminal app has passed the German banking industry’s security assessment and function test, in accordance with “Digital Terminal without PIN Pad” (Digital TOPP), and is therefore able to process contactless girocard payments. CCV GmbH and Rubean AG have thus continued their cooperation, after jointly developing the PhonePOS app and successfully bringing it to market.

The PhonePOS app integrates the merchant terminal into standard Android smartphones and tablets. The reading process occurs by tapping the contactless-enabled payment card on the back of the device. Credit card payments were already authorised for pilot use by Mastercard and VISA from February 2020.

The Digital TOPP is intended to attract smaller businesses and mobile merchants in particular, many of whom were reluctant to accept card payments because separate card terminals are costly and use space.

“The digital terminal will change our business life,” says Dr. Hermann Geupel, CEO of Rubean AG. “The mobile app runs on almost all Android smartphones and tablets, and allows merchants to accept card payments anywhere: at the Maroni sales stand, after a sanitary repair at a customer’s premises, or at the end of a sales conversation in a department store. By being able to pay immediately, everyone saves time and this can even create new business models.”

Günther Froschermeier, CTO of CCV GmbH, when describing the components of success surrounding the CCV PhonePOS, says, “this digital terminal – which emerged from our PhonePOS app – is a special concern for us as a customer-oriented payment provider. We support innovation, digitalisation, and security. All of these requirements are combined in this app. With Rubean as a partner for compliance with smartphone security aspects, we can present an all-round successful solution.”

About Rubean

Rubean AG is a software producer in the financial sector, and has been established for 20 years. Rubean is growing with the development and marketing of the innovative mobile point-of-sale terminal solution, PhonePOS, which was developed in partnership with CCV. Rubean has been listed in the premium segment m:access of the Munich Stock Exchange with the symbol R1B since April 2020.

About CCV GmbH

CCV’s international payment division stands for innovation and years of expertise in all areas of cashless payment. With a holistic view of the customer journey, CCV offers omni-channel payment solutions for networks, retail, the hotel industry, vending, EV charging, and mobility. With a focus on large customers, CCV’s portfolio includes both efficient standard solutions and individual customised developments.

CCV’s Payment as a Service philosophy sees the cashless point-of-sale, including online touchpoints, as the centre of an entire ecosystem. These services form the building blocks of modern payment:

• Innovative Android-based concepts;
• (International) processing and acquiring;
• Strong safety concepts such as P2PE certification, and;
• Repair, service, and logistics for Europe handled centrally in Germany.

CCV is under family management, benefiting from international experience with installations in more than 24 countries – plus strong local roots with branches in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

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