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.
EPI says it has secured regulatory clearance to close the deals, which were first announced in April, marking a significant milestone for its ambition to build a unified instant payment scheme and platform for Europe.
Initially backed by 31 major Eurozone banks and acquirers Worldline and Nets, the EPI set itself the goal of building a unified pan-European payment system, offering a card for consumers and merchants across Europe, a digital wallet and P2P payments.
Backed by the European Central Bank, the scheme was set to enter its operational phase last year, but financing had become a concern for members, prompting a move to seek outside funding. The failure to agree terms led to the pull out of 20 banks, including all Spanish members as well as Germany's Commerzbank and DZ Bank. Plans to launch a payment card were also ditched as the company reined in its ambitions.
Under its remaining 13 shareholders - BFCM, BNP Paribas, BPCE, Crédit Agricole, Deutsche Bank, DSGV, ING, KBC, La Banque Postale, Nexi, Société Générale and Worldline - this year the initiate grew fresh legs and the arrival of new support, from the returning DZ Bank, alongside ABN Amro, Belfius and Rabobank.
With the iDeal and Payconiq deals tied up, EPI will start preparing the deployment of its payment solution in Belgium, France, Germany, followed by the Netherlands - countries that together represent more than half of all non-cash payments in the euro area, before extending to other European countries.
In September, the venture selected 'wero' as the commercial name for its forthcoming digital wallet, which will be rolled out in phases, initially to support account-to-account based instant P2P and consumer-to-business payments, followed by online and mobile shopping payments and then point-of-sale payments.
Martina Weimert, CEO, EPI, says: "I believe that their [iDeal and Payconiq's] expertise and experience will be very valuable in driving the success of EPI and its payment solution Wero."