LUXEMBOURG--PayPal today announced it has been granted a banking license for the European Union by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg, effective July 2, 2007. Under this new charter, PayPal will be able to continue its European expansion by offering its services to more online merchants across Europe. In addition, PayPal will be moving its European headquarters to Luxembourg.
“Our goal is to give European consumers more places to shop securely and conveniently across the web by making PayPal available on virtually every retail website in Europe,” said Brent Bellm, vice president of PayPal Europe. “Establishing a new European headquarters in Luxembourg, and receiving this bank license, is a significant step in the next phase of PayPal’s European growth.”
PayPal has more than 35 million accounts, and is offered on more than 100,000 websites in Europe. In 2006, PayPal processed $8.4 billion of total payment volume in Europe. According to Forrester Research, 23% of all European internet shoppers prefer paying with PayPal. These shoppers can currently find PayPal accepted on many different European retail sites including Harrods, DHL, Meetic, Pixmania, eBuyer, Tommy Hilfiger, Boots. It is also available on eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY).
PayPal has local language websites in 15 countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and the UK. To encourage local and cross border e-commerce, PayPal also supports payments from 190 markets in 17 currencies including Euros, Pounds Sterling, Czech Koruna, Danish Krone, Hungarian Forint, Norwegian Krone, Polish Zloty, Swedish Krona, and Swiss Francs.
About PayPal Europe S.àr.l. et Cie S.C.A.
PayPal Europe S.àr.l. et Cie S.C.A. is a Luxembourg-based limited partnership, which will be regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (‘CSSF’) in Luxembourg with effect from 2 July 2007. PayPal Inc is the ultimate parent of PayPal Europe S.àr.l. et Cie S.C.A. and is 100% owned by eBay Inc. PayPal Inc was set up in the US in December 1998 and acquired by eBay Inc in 2002. PayPal has over 35M accounts in Europe, over 143M accounts worldwide and can be used to make online payments in 190 markets.
About PayPal
Founded in 1998, PayPal, an eBay company, enables any individual or business with an email address to send and receive payments online securely and easily using a bank account, credit card or stored balance. Because PayPal allows customers to shop online without sharing their financial information with merchants, privacy is built into the service. PayPal has more than 143 million accounts and is available to users in 190 markets around the world. More information about the company can be found at https://www.paypal.com.