European Payments Initiative - News, Articles & Research

EPI launches wero wallet in Germany

The European Payments Initiative (EPI) has launched its mobile-first wallet and instant account-to-account payments system in Germany, with other counties set to follow in the coming months.

03 July 2024

News/payments

Computop calls on retailers to join EPI pilot trials

EU payment gateway Computop is calling on merchants to join pilot trials of the bank-backed European Payments Initiative's wero wallet scheme.

26 June 2024

News/payments

German banks to shut down PayPal competitor Paydirekt

German banks are set shut down their PayPal competitor Giropay/Paydirekt and instead throw their weight behind continent-wide startup the European Payments Initiative (EPI).

11 June 2024

News/payments

EPI completes first account-to-account mobile transfers

The European Payments Initiative has completed its first account-to-account instant payment transaction in a proof-of-concept between customers from Sparkasse Elbe-Elster in Germany and Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne (Groupe BPCE) in France

18 December 2023

News/payments

European Payments Initiative closes acquisition of iDeal and Payconiq

The European Payments Initiative (EPI), a bank-backed venture that was initially set up to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, has completed the acquisition of Dutch payment scheme iDeal and Luxembourg's Payconiq.

02 November 2023

News/payments

EPI dubs new digital wallet 'wero'

The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed venture that was initally set up to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, has selected 'wero' as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet solution.

25 September 2023

Company announcement/payments

EPI contributes to CBDC prototyping exercise conducted by the European Central Bank

EPI contributed to the prototyping exercise conducted by the European Cental Bank (ECB) to test how design choices for a digital euro could be implemented into existing European payments solutions.

31 May 2023

News/payments

European Payments Initiative to acquire iDeal and Payconiq

The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed venture that was initally set up to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, is to acquire Dutch payment scheme iDeal and Payconiq, the mobile payments app supported by a host of Belgian and Dutch banks.

25 April 2023

News/payments

European Payments Initiative seeks funding to take on Visa and Mastercard

The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed effort to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, is appealing for outside funding to get the project off the ground.

17 November 2021

News/payments

European banks seek technical partners to help build rival to Visa and Mastercard

The European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed joint venture that aims to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa, has put out a Request for Information for 'qualified technical partners' to help build its central infrastructure.

24 February 2021

Company announcement/payments

Polish and Finnish banks join European Payments Initiative

Today, EPI Interim Company, responsible for initiating the implementation of the European Payments Initiative (EPI), is pleased to announce that PKO Bank Polski (“PKO BP”), Poland’s largest bank, and OP Financial Group, the leading Finnish retail bank, are joining EPI as founding shareholders of the recently created company.

10 December 2020

News/payments

Nets and Worldline take stakes in bank-backed rival to Visa and Mastercard

Worldline and Nets have become shareholders in the European Payments Initiative, a bank-backed joint venture that aims to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa.

25 November 2020