Currence
“Can a bank-consortium trade association sustain relevance as the scheme governance body for Dutch payment infrastructure through the iDEAL-to-Wero migration?”
Founded2005
HQAmsterdam, Netherlands
FoundersABN AMRO, Rabobank, ING Groep, Fortis, SNS Bank, BNG, Friesland Bank, Van Lanschot Kempen
IndustryInfrastructure / Payments
The story
Founded in 2005 as a bank-consortium trade association to govern Dutch retail payment infrastructure. Currence operates as a scheme and brand owner rather than a direct payments processor, setting rules and certification standards for PSPs and banks participating in iDEAL, iDIN, and eMandates. In 2023, iDEAL ownership/management was transferred away from Currence as part of the iDEAL-to-Wero migration, narrowing Currence's active scheme portfolio.
Product timeline
2005
Founded on 1 January 2005 by eight major Dutch banks to coordinate and govern Dutch payment schemes; renamed from 'Brandts & Licences Betalingsverkeer Nederland B.V.' to Currence on 17 May 2005.· pivot
2005
Became brand and scheme owner of iDEAL, PIN, Chipknip, Acceptgiro, and Incasso/Machtigen (eMandates).· banking
2023
Transferred ownership/management of iDEAL to Wero/new entity; iDEAL scheme began migration toward iDEAL | Wero branding.· pivot
Regulated entities
1
regulatory licence held by Currence
Licence types, jurisdictions and registered entities are in the Embedded Finance Index report.
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Currence’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
iDEAL (self-operated scheme)iDEAL | Wero (self-operated scheme)
Accounting gap: none