EPI invites all representative European digital payment solutions to join forces in favor of European sovereignty in payments

Europe must find its way to sovereignty and independence in payments. It is no longer a project for the future but a necessity all countries across Europe are facing. We must actively work on a viable solution that will contribute to European sovereignty and independence in payments.

Private European financial institutions have paved the way for many years developing local alternatives and now European alternative(s), leveraging the European Instant Payment Regulation developed by European regulators, which has come into force this year.

We aim at answering this challenge through a unique, all-in-one, instant, pan-European payment solution, able to cover over time all payment use cases consumers and professionals require. This is the founding principle and the mission we gave ourselves within EPI Company (EPI).

EPI has introduced a new payment scheme based on instant payments, an innovation which enables the creation of a truly European, sovereign payment solution, offering both consumers and merchants a seamless alternative to international cards, comparable to the most advanced solutions globally. Through its solution “Wero”, EPI has built a unique, safe and state-of-the art pan-European payments platform with multi-country capabilities, which can work in all European markets for local and cross-border transactions. At this stage, Wero already counts more than 40 million enrolled customers and is fully functional for P2P and P2Pro payments. 

Wero is set up as a wallet allowing us to integrate other payment means as well as value added services beyond payments which are attractive for consumers and merchants. It benefits from its own fraud prevention solution which is crucial for the safety of an independent European payment system. 

Strategically, the variety of use cases and services are key to establishing EPI as a strong competitor to international card schemes and solutions. As a next step, EPI foresees to launch e-commerce payments from the summer of 2025 onwards, first in Germany and Belgium, to be followed by France and the Netherlands as from next year, providing the foundation and proof-points for a viable European solution. These communities have replaced or will replace their local digital solutions by Wero. By the end of 2026, EPI will not only cover e- and m-commerce payments but also intends to add omni-channel payments, point of sale/in shop payments and invoice payments. The solution will use QR codes and the European standards for NFC/contactless transactions and provides consumer protection. 

Wero was built as a European payment solution by Europeans for Europeans, with a purely European governance. Other European financial institutions and acquirers including from other countries can join EPI either as shareholders or as members. 

But Wero is not the only fully functional player in Europe. Other successful digital payment solutions exist in many markets and together more than 120 million customers are already using these solutions today, and this combined user base is increasing quickly. All these home-grown solutions are successfully evolving and are attractive to European merchants, especially since they offer an innovative alternative to international card schemes and solutions.
                                                        
EPI is ready to cooperate closely with all representative local   digital payment networks in Europe to set up efficient interoperability based on a common merchant acceptance solution, shared among these European solutions, allowing cross-border functioning and broad European coverage. We aim to ensure that European consumers can pay everywhere in Europe. Hence European sovereignty would be achieved while allowing also all these initiatives to continue focusing on their further roll-out and scaling up. 

Markets which do not have their own solution so far could easily adopt one of these solutions to dispose of a European digital solution as an alternative to international solutions and to connect to other European markets.
The 16 European shareholders supporting EPI consider that the various current European initiatives can already partly now and in the near future, very broadly achieve sovereignty for payments across Europe through their cooperation and their further developments, by leveraging the existing customer base and usage we have already established.