Payleven is to launch a fully-certified Chip & PIN reader in its European markets, indicating it has received the support of Visa Europe for its service.

The company is one of a number in Europe which enable small businesses to process payments from consumers using a smartphone or tablet.

It is now taking orders for new readers which will enable consumers to make payments by entering their PIN. According to Techcrunch, Payleven will start shipping the new readers on 18 February.

It is one of the first companies in Europe to offer a Chip & PIN-based solution, which is necessary to comply with Visa’s requirements.

Rival services such as iZettle rely on reading the magnetic stripe on debit and credit cards. Users sign for transactions rather than entering their PIN.

Last year, iZettle was forced to stop accepting Visa payments. The credit card giant would not specify the reason at the time, saying only that iZettle did not meet “our standard acceptance device requirements”.

It is now clear the reason was that iZettle did not offer a Chip & PIN solution. For a time, iZettle had to come up with a workaround before resolving the dispute with Visa.

Payleven’s new card reader will launch first in the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Poland.