Founded in Zurich in 1996 as a fintech startup, Netcetera has evolved in recent years into the «digital powerhouse» of Giesecke + Devrient (G+D). Founded in Leipzig in 1852 and now headquartered in Munich, G+D is regarded as one of the world’s leading providers of banknote printing solutions and has increasingly diversified into digital payment and security solutions in recent years.

G+D Netcetera, part of the group since 2020, today describes itself as a «European software company with Swiss roots, specialising in forward-looking digital solutions for the financial industry». It employs around 1,200 people in Switzerland and at other European locations. A large share of its software development has long been carried out in North Macedonia.

Netcetera’s headquarters are located in an unassuming industrial building in Zurich-Albisrieden, where finews met Martina Forster for an interview. Since joining Netcetera nine years ago, she has held various roles in payment security. Since the beginning of 2025, she has served as Portfolio Lead Secure Digital Payments. Before joining Netcetera, she spent many years at Esri Switzerland, another software company, albeit one specialising in geographic information systems.

Ms Forster, are Netcetera’s Swiss roots still noticeable?

Yes. For example, we still manage our product management from our headquarters in Switzerland. The Swiss market and our customers here remain very important to us, even though we now define ourselves as a European company. Traditional Swiss success factors such as high quality standards and a strong capacity for innovation also continue to shape who we are.

Your market consists of banks, card issuers, payment service providers, large retailers, insurers and others – but not consumers.

That’s correct. We operate exclusively in the B2B segment, although we always keep the needs and concerns of end customers in mind when developing our solutions. Applications need to offer both a high level of security and convenience, providing end customers with a clear and intuitive user experience.

«It is not enough simply to say that a solution is highly innovative. The end customer needs to see added value.»

One innovation in which G+D Netcetera was involved as a consultant is instant payments. Yet their share of overall electronic payments remains negligible, and the benefit for end customers does not appear to be particularly clear. Why is that?

There are certainly some use cases where instant payments can be useful, for example the immediate provision of liquidity in emergencies. Instant payments also enable new sales processes for digital products. The infrastructure is in place and works, but it is not yet being used to its full potential, partly because banks are still somewhat hesitant. For various reasons, instant payments are also not yet widely established in retail.

It is a young market. The players involved want to understand the risks, fees are high, and the user experience is not yet as mature as it is with card payments. Once retailers implement instant payments and the new services they enable become more visible, end customers will use the option more frequently. They need to see added value: simply arguing that a solution is highly innovative is not enough.

Over the past few decades, cashless payments have evolved rapidly for consumers – from the old credit-card imprinters with carbon paper to payment cards on smartphones and Twint. What will be the next innovation to achieve widespread adoption?

Click to Pay is being strongly promoted by the major card networks as a new global standard for faster and more secure online payments. Consumers only need to enter their details for the first transaction, after which their settings are stored securely. I then have my payment profile in the cloud, which can be thought of as a wallet to which I can add additional cards. My credit card information, billing address and payment preferences are stored in tokenised form; they are no longer held by the merchant, which makes the process more secure.

Ideally, only a few clicks are then required for my next online shopping transaction: click the Click to Pay symbol, select the preferred payment card and authorise the payment using a fingerprint or Face ID. Behind that, however, lies the entire payment process.

«Click to Pay is being strongly promoted by the major card networks as a new global standard for faster and more secure online payments»

And how is G+D Netcetera involved in Click to Pay?

As a member of EMVCo, the organisation behind industry standards for secure card-based payments, we have helped develop both the Secure Remote Commerce standard and the Click to Pay market solution based on it from the very beginning. Today, we provide Click to Pay as Software as a Service for payment providers and banks, as well as passkey services required for seamless user authentication.

How will stablecoins change payments?

They are bringing greater speed to cross-border payment flows. The use case currently discussed most frequently is treasury management for globally active companies and banks. For end customers, stablecoins are still of limited relevance in payments, and the regulated market is only beginning to emerge. Moreover, payment apps such as Wero and banking apps such as Revolut already allow end customers to make real-time payments today.

That is another reason why stablecoins are not yet a primary focus for us, although they are incorporated into our innovation work. We are following developments closely, particularly the ongoing banking initiative for a Swiss franc stablecoin sandbox. From our perspective, Click to Pay, instant payments and stablecoins are simply different payment rails that a bank, payment service provider or payment app can offer its end customers. That is precisely where our multi-rail approach comes in: we make these different rails easy and secure for our customers to use.

How well prepared are Swiss banks for the future of payments?

For banks, it is crucial to retain the customer interface in payments. That was also why Twint was launched – an innovation that is now used throughout Switzerland. However, banks still have a lot of homework to do. Innovative providers such as Revolut, which has significantly more business volume in Switzerland than domestic neobanks, could act as a catalyst. They are increasing the pressure on banks to provide customers with attractive offerings that go beyond payments alone. Added to this are ongoing advances in technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

«Banks feel secure, probably also because of Twint’s success. From our perspective, not enough is happening.»

Are banks doing enough?

No. They feel secure, probably also because of Twint’s success. From our perspective, not enough is happening. But things can change quickly, as the expansion of debit-card functionality demonstrates. Today, debit cards can do almost everything that was previously possible only with credit cards – the most important difference now is that debit cards do not provide access to credit.

What does AI mean for G+D Netcetera? Won’t AI take over software development in the medium term?

We are already right in the middle of the new AI world, but humans will continue to determine how AI is used and will need to understand their customers very well. AI automates and accelerates processes and streamlines repetitive tasks. This enables us to remain competitive, while allowing our teams to focus even more closely on customers and creating added value. We can help shape how AI is used in our field. Our customers appreciate it when we assess the associated opportunities and risks on their behalf.

Couldn’t a professional with the right prompts quickly create a payment process without software in the traditional sense?

Yes. In fact, work is already under way on transactions that are based on and initiated by AI agents. Fundamentally, users value convenience; what matters to them is whether an innovation makes their lives easier. One possible use case, for example, would be the regular online purchase of standardised consumer goods such as diapers.

But there are major unanswered questions. Will consumers actually embrace such innovations? How important are security and autonomy to them? How well are they protected against fraud? Data and privacy must continue to be secure.

Like G+D, its competitors are also diversifying beyond their traditional core businesses. In Switzerland, a subsidiary of Orell Füssli, whose largest shareholder is the Swiss National Bank (SNB), operates in the field of digital identities. Is Procivis encroaching on your territory?

Sometimes we are competitors, but we are also often partners. No one can do everything themselves in the field of digital identities, which is why there is a great deal of cooperation and complementarity. We also occasionally deal directly with the SNB.

«No one can do everything themselves in the field of digital identities, which is why there is a great deal of cooperation and complementarity.»

In what context?

One major issue in digital payments in the age of social media is fraudulent «business models». This primarily involves social engineering, which can lead to investment and romance fraud – known in industry jargon as investment and romance scams. How can banks, the SNB as the overseer of the national Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC) payment system, and the various infrastructure providers and suppliers – including Netcetera – contribute to prevention, early detection and ultimately limiting the damage?

The costs arising from such schemes are enormous, and there is also the loss of trust. Many coordinated efforts are under way in this area, including behind the scenes. With our Data Sharing Platform, for example, we enable the secure exchange of fraud indicators between institutions.

But fraud existed long before the digital age.

That’s correct, but the efficiency of modern technologies and the economies of scale associated with them have made such «businesses» considerably more attractive.