A Visa and Mastercard-certified mobile POS device is going on sale so businesses across Europe can accept chip and pin payments on smartphones and tablets.

The payleven dongle links to handsets via Bluetooth and an app, promising to offer the same level of security as traditional chip and pin services, which they say gives customers maximum fraud protection. payleven was the first-to-market to offer chip and pin, a key feature over rivals which rely on electronic signatures, and a caveat for accepting Visa payments in Europe.

The payleven device costs £49 as an introductory price and will be available from 18 February in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland. Transactions are charged at 2.75 per cent of the value, with no minimum revenue amounts. The company says there are no monthly fees or other hidden costs.

“We are excited to launch the perfect solution for the European market. Since Visa requires PIN authorization at the mobile point of sale in Europe, we are now in the position to allow our merchants to accept the leading card brand in the world,” said co-founder and CMO Konstantin Wolff.  “With Chip & PIN we can offer our merchants the highest security standard in card payments whilst being fully mobile, more flexible and convenient than traditional card terminals.”

payleven, a start-up founded in March last year, has headquarters in Berlin and London.