Terminal replacements 2026: an opportunity and obligation for SMEs

Why the change is necessary

Payment terminals are part of everyday life in bricks-and-mortar businesses: customers hold their card or smartphone up to the device and payments with Mastercard, Visa, PostFinance Card, TWINT etc. are completed in seconds. To ensure payments are processed smoothly and securely, the payment terminals must be compatible with the latest version of the international security standard PCI DSS. This also applies to all ep2-compliant payment terminals, which are widely used in Switzerland. Some of these terminal types no longer meet the current security standards and will no longer be permitted from November 2026. Companies with these terminals must have them replaced.

According to the Technical Cooperation ep2 Association, terminal generations that have been on the market for eight years are affected.

Replacing terminals as an opportunity to optimize costs

Many SMEs have a complicated solution for collecting payments on site: they often have several contracts with two partners, who are responsible for ensuring that card payments are carried out smoothly and securely (known as acquiring contracts). This creates additional work when reconciling card payments. It can also be easy to quickly lose track of things, whether in terms of support responsibilities or the costs incurred.

Replacing payment terminals provides an excellent opportunity to check and optimize the costs and conditions for collecting payments at the point of sale (POS). It’s worthwhile checking the offers carefully and comparing them with each other. In particular, a change of provider presents the opportunity to combine everything into a single package.

For small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, this kind of all-in-one solution means less work is required and also provides a better overview and often lower overall costs.

How to change payment terminals and acquiring contracts

Replacing your terminals is easy. By simplifying terminal and acquiring solutions in one easy step, organizations can reduce costs and effort in the long term. The new contract, including the change of terminal, will generally be activated within around two weeks.