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In its annual report for 2015 the Dutch Payments Association marks the tenth anniversary of it’s leading Dutch online payment scheme iDEAL. And iDEAL is still growing strong: the scheme was recently extended with QR-codes for physical points of sale and paper bills. Furthermore, the iDEAL model to securely authorise an online transaction through the customer’s bank, ideally suited the security and privacy requirements for reliable online identification and easy electronic mandates.

Continued growth of iDEAL online payments

After all these years, iDEAL payments keep increasing at an impressive annual growth rate of nearly 25 percent. This continued growth resulted in the billionth iDEAL-payment on King’s Day 2016, the Dutch national holiday on April 27th. Despite the advent of strong competing payment methods, the Dutch market share of iDEAL increased from 54 percent in 2014 to 56 percent in 2015.

iDEAL payments are integrated in the internet banking portal and mobile app of all consumer banks in the Netherlands, reaching over 90% of Dutch adults. Dutch consumers are experienced online shoppers with a high preference for iDEAL because of its familiarity, simplicity and reliability.

iDEAL popular with foreign web shops

iDEAL is offered by foreign web shops from over 60 countries around the world. A solid 20 percent of all iDEAL payments involve foreign web shops. Some foreign web shops reported a tenfold rise in sales to Dutch customers as soon as they added iDEAL to their payment offerings.

A third of all the certified iDEAL payment service providers, 19 PSPs altogether, are located outside the Netherlands and four of the seven licensed iDEAL acquirers are based abroad.

iDEAL extensions and spin-offs

At the beginning of 2016 a pilot was launched to pay with mobile phones at counters, outdoors and at home, using secure iDEAL QR-codes. This will allow iDEAL to continue growing for the next decade.

Based on the iDEAL-model to authorize an online transaction securely through the customer’s own bank, in web browsers or on mobile phones, the Payments Association and the Dutch banks launched new digital services. With iDIN, bank customers can conveniently identify themselves and log in at other e-commerce organizations, through the familiar online banking interface of their own bank. Similarly, customers can securely issue electronic mandates for direct debits online, through their own bank.

The Dutch Payments Association trusts that the iDEAL brand will continue to grow as a model for secure and convenient access to payment and banking services. iDEAL already ranks among the top five indispensable brands in the Netherlands as published by EURIB (European Institute for Brand Management) for the past three years. With such a strong track record, iDEAL is well positioned as a trusted brand for instant payments in commercial web shops and on online consumer market places.