Netcetera, a Zurich fintech founded in 1996, has grown into the digital payments pillar of Giesecke + Devrient (G+D), the Munich-headquartered company behind banknote printing since 1852 that has increasingly diversified into digital payment and security solutions. Acquired in 2020, G+D Netcetera describes itself as a European software company with Swiss roots, specialising in digital solutions for the financial industry, employing roughly 1,200 people across Switzerland and other European sites, with a large portion of its software development based in North Macedonia.
Martina Forster, who joined Netcetera nine years ago and has held various payment-security roles, became portfolio lead for secure digital payments in early 2025. Before Netcetera she worked for Esri Schweiz, a geoinformation-software firm. Product management remains based at the Zurich-Albisrieden headquarters, where she spoke with finews.
Instant Payments remain a small fraction of total electronic payment volume despite usable infrastructure, Forster said. Application cases exist — emergency liquidity withdrawal and new digital-product sales processes — but banks remain cautious, merchant adoption is limited, fees are high, and user experience has not yet matched that of card payments. "It is not enough simply to say a solution is innovative. The end customer must see added value," she said.
Click-to-Pay is being promoted as the new global standard for faster, more secure online payments by the major card networks. Consumers enter their data only once; the payment profile is tokenised and stored securely in the cloud rather than with individual merchants. As an EMVCo member, G+D Netcetera helped develop both the earlier Secure Remote Commerce standard and the Click-to-Pay market solution, and now offers Click-to-Pay as software-as-a-service for payment providers and banks alongside Passkey authentication services.
Stablecoins are gaining traction primarily in treasury management for globally active corporations and banks, Forster said, though they remain largely irrelevant to retail consumers as the regulated market is still forming. Apps such as Wero and bank offerings like Revolut already enable real-time payments for end users. Netcetera is also tracking the ongoing banking initiative for a Swiss-franc stablecoin sandbox. The company's multi-rail approach treats Click-to-Pay, instant payments and stablecoins as different payment rails made accessible and secure for banks, payment service providers and payment apps.
Swiss banks, Forster argued, are too comfortable. "The banks feel safe, probably because of the success of Twint. In our view, not enough is happening." She pointed to the rapid expansion of debit-card capabilities as evidence that change can come quickly — today's debit cards can perform functions formerly available only through credit cards. Revolut, which operates significantly more transaction volume in Switzerland than domestic neobanks, could act as a catalyst by raising competitive pressure beyond pure payment services. AI is another factor: "We are already in the new AI world," Forster said. "But humans will continue to steer AI deployment and understand their customers very well." AI automates and accelerates processes and rationalises repetitive tasks, she added, helping the company stay competitive and freeing teams to focus on higher-value work.
