Merging Belgium's finest payment solutions in just six months

Digital Business Strategy
Platform Architecture
Digital Product Design
Software Engineering

In 2018 Payconiq & Bancontact, the dominating mobile payment solutions in Belgium, merged and In The Pocket was sitting front row of the fintech wedding of the year. We developed their new mobile application, the first tangible result of the merge.


It’s no coincidence we were asked to tackle this project. In The Pocket was at the forefront of mobile payments in Belgium. We have been working on the strategy and development of the Bancontact app since its early days in 2013. Building and maintaining such a complex product, without compromising on security or an easy to use interface is In The Pockets’ bread and butter. Over the past years, our teams have worked on several products of banks and insurers, from building software to helping them design their solution architecture. The Harald SDK (a beacon platform developed by In The Pocket) is integrated in the apps of KBC & Belfius. You wouldn't be mistaken if you said we're into fintech.

Only six months to deliver a fully working app. Only In The Pocket, who was responsible for the delivery of the Bancontact app the past few year was in the position to do it.
Thierry Hugue, CTO Bancontact Payconiq Company

Mobile device scanning a QR code with the Payconiq by Bancontact app

Merging the applications of Payconiq and Bancontact was a technical challenge. We started by mapping the entire existing solutions & products in collaboration with all key stakeholders. By doing this, we could rank the different options available to the customer to get to a new application within a given timeframe. We were able to start our work on a solid basis and a good understanding of the existing environments, so we could focus on the challenges brought by the integration.

Payconiq by Bancontact icons

An important factor, was that the end-user shouldn’t feel like the two applications were merely smashed together. We wanted to combine the best of both worlds. We used both existing as well as new API’s developed by the Payconiq International team to make the onboarding as smooth as possible for users who didn’t use any of the two apps before.

Screenshots of the Payconiq by Bancontact app

To make sure the application was familiar to both Bancontact and Payconiq users, we had to find a way to intertwine both styles in one product. Visually we held on to an upgraded bright colour palette used in the original Payconiq app to make the app stand out against the most commonly used colour in mobile applications: blue. The original Bancontact app always was accessible to beginner and expert smartphone users alike, guiding them through the process of creating an account, adding payment methods and making payments. With the new app, we wanted to maintain that mindset and make it both user-friendly and delightful to use.

Our approach

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