Online payment solution SafetyPay began operations in its 21st country this week. The Florida-based company now operates in Belgium, expanding its global footprint which covers the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Latin America.

SafetyPay’s expansion into Europe fulfills one of the company’s strategic objectives and makes good business sense: Half of the country’s population with access to email have a habit of shopping online. “Our main goal is to make SafetyPay well known to the market. Brand perception is an intelligent sales technique for pitching to merchants, who play such a key role in the process,” said Gustavo Ruiz Moya, SafetyPay CEO.

SafetyPay’s ecommerce checkout-solution enables users to pay global merchants in their local currency, directly from their bank account. The company has partnerships with almost 100 banks around the world.

Founded in 2003, SafetyPay’s sales have grown 5X over the past three years. Moya attributes the growth to “investments in technology, innovation in [its] product portfolio and the hard work of [its] devoted and highly qualified team.” The company last presented at FinovateSpring 2010. Earlier this month, SafetyPay partnered with Brazil-based Pamcary to help the company’s truckers make annual Telerisco payments.