Enhancing Instant Cross-Border Payment Coordination in Europe: Goal of EuroPA and EPI
The European Payments Initiative (EPI) and the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) have announced a partnership aimed at creating a more Eurocentric payment solution. This collaboration seeks to integrate national payment schemes across Europe into a unified, interoperable system, reducing dependency on the dominant US-based card networks Visa and Mastercard.
Key aspects of this partnership include:
- Unifying multiple national payment systems like Bizum (Spain), Bancomat (Italy), and MB Way (Portugal) under a single interoperable payment framework covering up to 15 countries and over 380 million consumers.
- Facilitating instant, cross-border payments with faster processing times, lower fees, and improved security through technologies such as real-time payment processing and advanced data analytics.
- Enabling European businesses to reduce transaction costs and expand into new markets more easily, thus enhancing competitiveness and fostering economic integration within Europe.
- Encouraging regulatory and political support towards EU payment sovereignty by phasing out legacy domestic schemes and promoting alternatives to traditional card schemes under PSD2 and open banking frameworks.
The EPI’s core product, Wero, exemplifies this push by replacing fragmented local solutions with a unified wallet usable across borders. Wero, which launched last year in Germany and expanded to Belgium and France, is expected to evolve into an all-encompassing platform, supporting recurring payments and buy now, pay later.
The partnership between EPI and EuroPA is part of an effort to strengthen Europe’s payments system. Support for SEPA was mandated in the region at the beginning of this year, and both the European Commission and the Eurosystem have stated that interconnecting existing payment solutions is a fast way to strengthen the payments system.
The reliance on U.S. companies and the dollar has drawn criticism in Europe, prompting calls for a more Eurocentric solution. The combination of EPI's digital wallet with EuroPA's mobile platforms aims to enhance Europe's sovereignty in payments. The partnership aims to build a better cross-border solution in Europe, addressing concerns over Visa and Mastercard's dominance by creating a homegrown European payment infrastructure that is interoperable, efficient, and cost-effective.
USD-backed stablecoins are gaining traction in Europe, leading to concerns over reliance on U.S. companies. This partnership directly addresses these concerns by building a solution that supports all payment types, from peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to enterprise-level transactions, and is built on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) real-time payments protocol.
Under this model, users will be able to use their preferred digital payment solutions both locally and across Europe, enhancing convenience and fostering a more integrated European economy. This partnership is a significant step towards the EU’s strategic goal of greater financial autonomy and integration.
- This collaboration between the European Payments Initiative (EPI) and the European Payments Alliance (EuroPA) is not only aimed at creating a more Eurocentric payment solution, but also at fostering a more integrated European lifestyle, as it encourages the use of a unified payment system like Wero for daily transactions among consumers, supported by technologies such as real-time payment processing and advanced data analytics.
- The partnership between EPI and EuroPA addresses concerns in the finance and general-news sectors over the dominance of US-based card networks Visa and Mastercard, by building a homegrown European payment infrastructure that supports all payment types and is based on the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) real-time payments protocol. This initiative, which aims to create a more interoperable and cost-effective payment system, could potentially reduce Europe's dependency on USD-backed stablecoins and strengthen its financial autonomy.
