About 70% of online payments in the Netherlands go through iDEAL, but iDEAL requires a round trip through a banking app for approval. Apple Pay tokenizes debit cards from major Dutch banks and completes checkout with a single biometric authentication, significantly shortening the checkout steps in mobile app and Safari environments. The fact that it runs on debit rather than credit cards is what makes it fit well with the Dutch market.

Korean merchants running mobile-heavy fashion, ticketing, or subscription apps may want to consider keeping iDEAL as the primary method while running Apple Pay alongside it as a one-touch path for iPhone users. The effect is greater in industries where in-app checkout UX has a strong influence on revenue.

When a consumer taps the Apple Pay button and approves with Face ID or Touch ID, a device-specific token (DPAN) is transmitted instead of the actual card number to process the payment. This biometric authentication satisfies PSD2's SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) requirement, making it easier to protect conversion rates without an additional authentication pop-up. The amount is received by Hecto Financial in euros (EUR), converted, and then settled to Korean merchants in the contracted currency among USD, KRW, and JPY.

Korean companies can consider accepting Apple Pay through Hecto Financial without a local contract in the Netherlands. Requirements and card network conditions differ by applicable channel — web (Safari), in-app, and so on — so it is efficient to decide on the channel first and then consult with us.

• Business registration country

  Confirm whether contracting is possible on the basis of a Korean business entity

• Sales channel

  The integration method and priority differ depending on your online sales channel mix — own storefront, online marketplace, mobile app, etc.

• Product categories handled

  Confirm in advance whether your products fall under a restricted category per the Apple Pay operator's merchant policy

• EU regulatory compliance

  Confirm compliance with EU payment regulations such as PSD2 and SEPA (see official sources below)

Apple Pay transactions are processed as tokenized card payments, generating a euro (EUR) amount that Hecto Financial receives, converts, and pays out to Korean merchants in the contracted currency among USD, KRW, and JPY. Because it is card-based, a chargeback process exists, and handling refunds by canceling the original transaction is advantageous for preventing disputes.

• De Nederlandsche Bank (Dutch central bank)Official information on the Netherlands' payment systems and supervisory regulations. If the content of this page differs from the actual regulations, the official source takes precedence.