The European Payment Initiative, a bank-backed venture that was initally set up to build a rival to Mastercard and Visa in Europe, has enrolled 14 million users and processed eight million transactions since launch.
The release of the figures comes as the EPI launches its wero wallet in Belgium - after an initial phase in France and Germany - and prepares for the introduction of a standalone P2P payments app.
Customers of German savings and cooperative banks have been able to access and use Wero within their banking apps since July 2024.
"With Wero, we are aiming to develop a new standard for digital payments in Germany and actively contribute to the independence and sovereignty of Europe in payments," states Joachim Schmalzl,managing director of the DSGV. "The Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe is proud to be part of this European initiative, which offers our customers a secure, fast, and user-friendly payment solution and will provide an attractive service for merchants, who are already showing a strong interest in the solution."
The wero standalone app is be made available to Postbank customers for A2A payments from next week onwards and to Deutsche Bank customers in 2025. Integration into the banking apps of Postbank and Deutsche Bank is planned at a later date.
"Wero is more than just another payment app. It is a step towards a standardized European payment landscape" says Dominik Hennen, head of personal banking at Deutsche Bank. "We are delighted to be able to offer our customers this innovative solution that simplifies payments across national borders."
Next year, wero will get the ability to pay any small professional from the wallet, and also pay merchants online and upon invoices via QR code. This includes the ability for consumers to manage recurring payments for subscriptions or installments, but also to pay in merchant apps at point of sale without going through the cashier.
In-store payments at the cash register will also be added in 2026, along with other capabilities, such as BNPL, merchant loyalty, programme integration and expense sharing.
The European Payments Initiative says it is also in discussions with other banks to join the project in 2025.
Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI, says: “After a phased launch of Wero in three European countries, we can now focus on deepening our market penetration including more banks and features and accelerate the next steps in commercial payments by working with merchants and their service providers. The proposition of Wero needs to be built up step by step to ensure that Wero will become a true European success story.”