Visa cardholders in Romania will be the first in Europe to gain access to a new solution piloted by Visa for financial institutions and retailers which allows their customers to pay for their purchases in installments, both in stores and online, with a Visa credit card, Business Review reads.

The Visa installment payment service in Romania is part of a broader global pilot project also offering a set of installment APIs, which is due for commercial roll-out in 2020. Eligible Visa cardholders will have the option to divide the total cost of eligible purchases into smaller, equal payments over a defined period of time.

Benefits for retailers, according to the company, are enhanced sales, simple integration, improved customer loyalty and overall cash flow, while offering shoppers a friction-free payment experience at checkout.

The pilot phase of the project enables ING Bank credit cardholders to pay in installments at ALTEX stores or online at eMAG. Participating retailers are facilitated by PayU, Alpha Bank and UniCredit Bank.

Eligible Visa cardholders can choose their installment payment plan at the counter or at check-out, with participating retailers, while issuing banks can provide this service through the Visa network without the need to develop their own acceptance network.

The credit card segment on the local market has constantly been developing in recent years and the payment behavior of consumers has evolved. The value of credit card payments in Romania increased by 80 percent over the past three years, to RON 12 billion in 2018, and the first six months of 2019 confirm the sustained growth trend, with an advance of 20 percent against the same period of last year, according to data from the National Bank. In terms of the number of transactions, over 200,000 payments are made on average, per day, with credit cards issued by banks in Romania.