payleven has signed a deal with Italy’s government-owned BancoPosta, part of the Posta Italiane post office group, to make its mPOS solution available to all bank customers from October.

The German company launched in March last year and like Square in the US, has received the stamp of approval from Apple in the UK, where it is now on sale in retail stores. payleven has also gone direct to tradespeople, a key market for mobile transactions, hitting the shelves of Screwfix in the UK in August.

“This new way to accept mobile card payments combines safety, ease of use and affordable pricing”, said Carolina Gianardi, head of retail at BancoPosta. “With this cooperation Poste Italiane is expanding its attractive value added services for small and medium sized businesses through keeping a constant eye on innovation.”

The deal is similar to one signed by rival iZettle with Spain’s Santander, which gave the company access to both Spanish and English customers, although the Spanish bank also invested money in the payment startup.

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