The European Payments Initiative (EPI), backed by BNP Paribas and a coalition of European banks, is accelerating efforts to challenge the dominance of Visa, Mastercard, and Big Tech in the EU’s digital payments space. Through its flagship product, the Wero wallet, EPI already serves 40+ million users and supports P2P and P2Pro payments. Next: a phased rollout of e-commerce payments in Germany and Belgium (Summer 2025), followed by France and the Netherlands.
The ambition: to become Europe’s unified payment solution for all channels — including omni-channel, in-store, invoice, and mobile commerce — by 2026.
Strategic Insight
1. Sovereignty as Strategy
BNP Paribas COO Thierry Laborde frames this as a “necessity” rather than a vision. The reliance on US card networks (65% of euro area card transactions) and tech platforms (Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal) poses systemic risk. With rising geopolitical tensions and economic coercion concerns, control over financial infrastructure is now a matter of digital independence.
2. Wero Wallet as the Unifying Layer
While Wero is not the only digital wallet in Europe, its open approach to cooperation signals a federated infrastructure strategy — rather than a monopolistic “one wallet to rule them all” vision. EPI is promoting shared merchant acceptance, cross-border reach, and technical interoperability across local schemes.
3. Ecosystem Play > Standalone App
This is not about replacing wallets like Swish (Sweden), Bizum (Spain), or Payconiq (Benelux) — it’s about linking them under a pan-European network. That means merchant-level acceptance standardization, data-sharing standards, and clearing/settlement interoperability — not customer acquisition battles.
What This Means for:
✅ Fintechs & PSPs:
- API compatibility with EPI/Wero will become a key requirement for pan-European merchant servicing.
- Gateways will need to support domestic and EPI-standardized rails, increasing technical integration demand.
- Opportunity to offer merchant onboarding-as-a-service for Wero’s expanding network.
✅ Merchants:
- Can reduce processing costs by accepting direct account-to-account payments via Wero.
- May face regulatory nudges to support EPI rails, especially for public or high-volume payment environments.
✅ Regulators:
- Likely to incentivize or mandate Wero adoption in key verticals (utilities, transport, government payments).
- Could accelerate PSD3/Instant Payments regulation enforcement to support the infrastructure shift.
